IT's SETTLED Dumitraşcu: "Shares on the BSE and GDRs in London, the best structure of the Romgaz offer"

Despite the protests of the stock market community, including those of the officials of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, related to the structure of the Romgaz IPO, which would be divided into shares listed on the BSE and GDRs (global depository receipts) in London, Gabriel Dumitraşcu, the head of the Privatization and Administration Division of the Energy department remained unyielding.

According to some sources, in a meeting with the representatives of the state and of the underwriter syndicate, Ludwik Sobolewski, the new CEO of the BSE, argued in favor of the listing of the largest Romanian natural gas producer exclusively in Bucharest.

In his first press conference, held on Tuesday, Sobolewski took on a more nuanced stance, saying that it would be best if the largest part of the offer took the form of shares on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and only a small part were structured as GDRs in London.

Gabriel Dumitraşcu, on the other hand, did not nuance anything.

When asked about the current stage of the underwriting syndicate and the BSE, concerning the structure of the offer of Romgaz, Gabriel Dumitraşcu said: "Let's make it very clear: with the BSE, the only thing we can have is a consultation. However, I can tell you that we are on the same path, we have the same intentions, namely optimizing the IPO so that it benefits everybody".

According to him, a structure that has GDRs in London is the best model, which is beneficial for everybody, including for the BSE.

At the end of June, Dumitraşcu had stated that the Bucharest Stock Exchange was far too small and it couldn't supply the over 600 million Euros which the state wants to raise from the sale of its 15% block of shares in Romgaz.

The Romgaz IPO is set to take place in October.