Patriciu fails to sell Mic.ro and MiniMax, considers bankruptcy procedure

Newsroom 10/04/2012 | 09:55

Mic.ro and MiniMax, the two retail chains owned by Romanian businessman Dinu Patriciu which have entered insolvency earlier this year, could ask for bankruptcy after attempts to sell them have failed, RVA Insolvency Specialists, the companies’ judicial administrator told Mediafax newswire.

“At the end of April or early May we will discuss with the creditors the proposition to enter bankruptcy, and the procedure could be triggered in two or three months time,” Otilia Milu, co-manager of RVA Insolvency told Mediafax. She explained that selling the two companies was the only option available as they were out of cash and the shareholders were not willing to invest any more money.

The company negotiated the sale of Mic.ro and MiniMax with several local and international companies. Mic.ro Retail, the company that owns the Mic.ro proximity stores, has filed for insolvency this February, only two weeks after Minimax Discount, a discount chain bought by the businessman in 2010, has also filed for insolvency.

Dinu Patriciu was named as Romania’s richest businessman for the third consecutive year in 2011, according to the Forbes rich list, with a fortune estimated at EUR 2.2 billion. Patriciu, who has investments in media, energy, real-estate, banking and IT&C, made most of his money by selling oil company Rompetrol to Kazakhstan’s state-owned energy operator KazMunaiGaz in 2008.

Simona Bazavan