English
The Romanian state has earned 72 million Euros from the sale of the 15% stake in "Transgaz" that was offered to investors through the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The success of the offer was celebrated by the authorities and by the stock market community.
Of course, there have been some complainers, who thought that the price of 179 lei/share which the state obtained, which was only 4.6% above the minimum accepted price and 9% below Tuesday's close, wasn't that great of an achievement.
At any rate, compared to the other offers which the government has attempted to conduct lately (the failure of the privatizations of Oltchim and "Petrom", the row at Cuprumin), no one can say that Transgaz isn't a success.
Brokers, as well as Constantin Niţă, the delegated minister for energy, consider that the offer of "Transgaz" sets the tone for the other privatizations scheduled by the state.
Constantin Niţă added: "The offer of Transgaz has been oversubscribed, we are pleased, it is a success. It is a good start for the privatization of the stakes in the state owned companies and for the stock market".
The offer has been oversubscribed by 347% for the small retailer segment (7% of the offer) and 257% for major investors (8%).
• Foreigners bought 70% of the tranche for major investors
According to a statistic by the consortium for intermediation Raiffeisen Capital&Investment, Wood&Company and BT Securities, 70% of the institutional investors (which were allocated 85% of the offer) are foreigners and 30% are Romanians.
Czech investors account for 24% of the total subscribers, followed by those in Sweden (16%) and Austria (9%). Shares of "Transgaz" have also attracted investors from Great Britain (7%), Finland (6%) and Poland (2%).
• James Stewart, "Raiffeisen Capital&Investment": "Romania can be the next success story of the development of the stock market"
James Stewart, vice-president of Raiffeisen Bank România, yesterday said: "I believe in the future of the Romanian stock market and we have proven our commitment to its development over time".
James Stewart considers that now that Poland has completed the privatization of its assets, Romania has every chance of becoming the next success story when it comes to the development of its stock market. "That is precisely why the success of this offer is an important step in that regard", he said.
• Lucian Anghel, BVB: "The offer of Transgaz, a breath of fresh air"
Lucian Anghel, the president of the Board of Directors of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, told us that the offer of "Transgaz" has been a success that came at the right time and it represents a breath of fresh air.
"The offer has been a success not only for the stock market, but for the economy as well", he added.
However, in spite of this, the representatives of the BSE did not participate yesterday in the press conference concerning the offer of Transgaz, which was held at the Ministry of the Economy, the energy department, even though it has supported the promotion of the offer.
Lucian Anghel told us that the Bucharest Stock Exchange has been involved from the beginning in the offer of TGN, not just through the involvement of its experts, but financially as well. The BSE has conducted marketing for this offer, he stressed.
Mr. Anghel added: "It is an encouraging beginning, which shows that if there is an attractive offer, the stock market has enough liquidity. In the coming listings, this success will make its effects felt. I hope that the discussions taking place currently will lead to concrete results and we will see private companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
Considering the demand of over 100 million Euros coming from investors, the concerns that the BSE is not capable of providing sufficient liquidity are no longer an issue. I think that from this point of view, the very last barrier has been broken, and financing through the stock market represents a viable alternative".
The even of the opening of the "Transgaz" offer had taken place at the Bucharest Stock Exchange, in the presence of many BSE officials.
• Rareş Nilaş, BT Securities: "The Transgaz secondary offering has a crucial importance for the Romanian government and for the stock market"
Rareş Nilaş, general manager of BT Securities, one of the intermediaries, also stands by the idea that the offer of Transgaz is important.
"The secondary public offer of Transgaz is one of the most important offers conducted in Romania over the last few years", he said. "This is precisely why the secondary Transgaz offer has a crucial importance for the Romanian government, for the company as well as for the overall stock market, and we therefore think that through the configuration of the offer, it answers the interests of the Romanian state, of the issuer and, last but not least of the investors".
Narcisa Oprea, partner at law firm Schoenherr said that the novelty factors of the Transgaz offer were the method for determining the price (book-building), the qualitative allocation method, the possibility of reallocation between the tranches, the structure of the tranches, closed-book".
According to a press release sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE), the offer has been oversubscribed on all of its three tranches.
The retail tranche with subscriptions of up to 1,000 shares has been subscribed 347%, whereas the retail tranche with subscriptions of more than 1,000 shares has been oversubscribed 257%.
Overall, investors have subscribed 299% of the shares they were offered, the press release states.
Retail investors on the small tranche, who have subscribed in the first four days of the offer, will pay a price of 170.05 lei/share, representing a discount of 5% of the price in the offer, whereas the retail investors of the small tranche who have subscribed starting with the fifth day of the offer, will pay 173.63 lei/share, representing a discount of 3% of the price of the offer. The institutional investors and those of the major retail tranche will pay, according to the prospectus, a price of 179 lei/share. The total amount obtained by the OPSPI following this offer is 315 million lei.
How the brokers view the results of the offer
• Grigore Chiş, "SSIF Broker": "The market has proven that it is capable of raising 72 million Euros"
From the point of view of the stock market, the offer of "Transgaz" has been a success, Grigore Chiş, the general manager of "SSIF Broker" says.
"Even though we are in a period of crisis, the market has proven that it is capable of raising 72 million Euros. Thus, there is no question of the market lacking money, instead the problem is offering a good return on that money", he said.
The government has every chance of successfully taking public other minority stakes, as long as it offers a return on the invested funds, in other words offering a discount, considers Grigore Chiş.
• Adrian Simionescu, "Vienna Investment Trust": "More success stories like this are needed to attract investors"
The offer for the sale of 15% of "Transgaz" has been a great success because it was heavily oversubscribed, which shows that investors are very interested, says Adrian Simionescu, the general manager of "Vienna Investment Trust".
It was to be expected that it would happen, because Transgaz remains a company with a very high potential, even though it has not been fully tapped so far, and foreign investors have confidence in this kind of companies, he explained.
"I am happy that the price the offer was made at had a satisfactory discount for investors and that the state has understood that offering a discount will affect the attractiveness of the offer and will lead to a resounding success.
From this point of view, I am congratulating the intermediaries, the Bucharest Stock Exchange and the officials of the government who have understood that there is a need for far more such success stories which would bring in more investors for the public offers of the state, which will help the government raise cash when needed, as well as stimulate the liquidity of the stock market", Adrian Simionescu went on to say.
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• Niţă: "The 10% stake in Petrom will not be sold on the stock market, and the listing of Nuclearelectrica will take place after May 15th"
Constantin Niţă yesterday said that he is not considering selling on the stock market a stake of up to 10% of the state's holdings in OMV Petrom.
"I don't think that we will sell the shares in Petrom, we are considering another working model. If I am going to wreck the entire energy system, I will go all the way through with it", he said.
In 2011, the government tried to sell on the stock market almost 10% of the shares it holds in OMV Petrom, but it failed, as investors were not interested in acquiring the shares at the prices the government was asking.
Constantin Niţă also said that the offer through which the government will sell 10% of the shares of "Nuclearelectrica" will take place after May 15th.
"It is for the first time in the last few years that we honor our international commitments. We promised we would list a stake in Transgaz in April and we did. This means dependability. We promised that we would list Nuclearelectrica in May and we will ", he said.
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