Romania says hopes to sign Ford deal next week

BUCHAREST, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Romania hopes to finalise a deal to sell its troubled carmaker Automobile Craiova SA (AUCSxm.BRQ: Quote, Profile, Research) to Ford Motor Co (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research) next week, a member of the privatisation commission said on Friday.

Last month, Ford submitted the sole bid in a tender for a 72.4 percent stake in a sale which the Romanian centrist government has said it hopes to wrap up by Sept. 1.

"We estimate the deal will be done by the middle of next week," Teodor Atanasiu, who is also the head of state privatisation agency AVAS, told Reuters.

The official, who did not say how much Romania hopes to raise from the deal, said Ford's offer would be opened early next week.

"We have not been able to reach an agreement on all of the contract's aspects," Atanasiu explained the delay without elaborating.

Ford has said it plans to invest 675 million euros ($931 million in the Craiova-based plant. It intends to raise employment levels to 7,000, and potentially up to 9,000, from 3,900 at present, and plans to reach output of 300,000 units a year.

Many auto-part makers have set up in the new European Union member country, attracted by the rising output of Renault's (RENA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) Dacia plant, cheap labour and favourable tax rates.