Privatisation agency APAPS has annulled the sell-off contract for steel works, CSR Resita, as the buyer, U.S. firm Noble Ventures, failed to meet the terms of the deal.

"The deal is cancelled without prior notice as CSR's owner has failed to pay two consecutive instalments for the shares it acquired," the APAPS said in a statement.

The APAPS did not give a figure for the amounts due from Noble Ventures, which acquired 94.5% of CSR under an $82.3m agreement signed in 2001.

The plant stopped output in 2001.

(NewsBase 20.i.03)