The Renault-Nissan Alliance will no longer be interested in participating in a tender for taking over the Daewoo plant in Craiova (southern Romania), if the latter does not clarify its situation soon, Dacia general manager Francois Fourmont told a news conference.
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According to new agency Rompres, the Dacia official said that the situation of Daewoo Craiova has not changed for several months. He said Renault-Nissan sent a letter of intent to the privatisation office, asking for access to information in order to decide whether it enters or not a possible tender held by the Romanian state.
Dacia vice-president, Constantin Stroe, had said in January that Daewoo Automobile Craiova could have a new owner before the end of the first quarter of this year. Two competitors, Ford and Renault-Nissan, had announced their intention to become involved in Daewoo Craiova’s take over, Stroe had also said. In early 2005, KPMG priced at EUR32m the 51% package of Daewoo’s shares, which the ministry of economy and trade wanted to take it over, and the liquidation value at around EUR70m.
The ministry of economy and trade holds 49% of the shares of Daewoo Craiova. Economy minister Codrut Seres said he hopes the plant in Craiova will continue to manufacture cars and will not lay off the small number of employees in Craiova. He said the company could be sold only if the new investor commits itself to keep 20-30% of the production capacity working and to launch a new product in a year or two.
In the 2005 Romanian sales charts, Daewoo ranked third, with 20,528 cars sold (8% market share), down from second for the first time behind Renault. The Daewoo Matiz and Cielo ranked second and third by model, with 13,087 and 6,302 cars sold in 2005, Rompres said.
