THE LISTING OF NUCLEARELECTRICA BT Securities will open a mobile office in Cernavodă

BT Securities, one of the intermediaries of the listing of Nuclearelectrica, will open on Monday, a mobile office at the nuclear-electric plant of Cernavodă, several sources from within the company told us. Thus, the 1,500 employees of Nuclearelectrica SA working in Cernavodă have the possibility to subscribe shares in the offer, our sources told us, saying that, without this solution, which the management of the company and the Energy Department had agreed on, it would have been very difficult for the employees to participate in the IPO.

The IPO will take place between September 9th - September 20th. Nuclearelectrica can raise between 272.8 million lei and 369.3 million lei from the sale of the company's shares on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE). The company intends to sell 25.3 million new shares, representing the equivalent of 10% of the share capital, at prices ranging between 11.2 lei/share and 15 lei/share. This price is almost two times lower than the value at which they are booked in the net asset of the Proprietatea Fund (symbol: FP), which holds 9.72% of the shares of Nuclearelectrica.

This offer has every chance of being successful, according to the brokers in the stock market, who signaled lots of interest from retail investors. Brokers expect high interest from institutional investors as well.

The Nuclearelectrica IPO comprises three tiers, of which the largest, of 85% of the required shares, is intended for institutional investors. 10% of the shares put up for sale are reserved for the small subscribers tier, and 5% account for the major subscriber tier.

The price for the small and big subscribers is fixed, and has been set at 15 lei/unit, and in the case of institutional investors it will range between 11.2 lei/share and 15 lei/share.

Investors that subscribe on the small tier will receive a discount of 8% if they place the order in the first three days of the IPO, and starting on the fourth day the discount will be only 3%.

Retail investors that subscribe on the major tier will pay the same price as the one set in the case of institutional investors. The prices at which the shares will be sold will be determined on September 23rd, on the first working day after the end of the IPO, based on all the valid subscriptions recorded on the tier of institutional investors.

The employees of Nuclearelectrica absolutely want to buying shares in the company in the first three days to get the 8% discount. Because of that, they have concluded an agreement with the authorities, which have asked the intermediary of the listing of Nuclearelectrica to set up the mobile office in Cernavodă. The high interest from retail investors has caused the authorities to set the tier for small investors at 10%.

Our sources claim that the employees of Nuclearelectrica want to create an association that will allow them to buy company shares in the future, according to the law which allows the state owned companies to sell directly to employees up to 10% of their shares.

• The Chinese are sounding increasingly interested in Units 3 and 4

The Chinese are looking increasingly interested in financing the construction of Units 3 and 4 of Cernavodă (a project evaluated at over 6 billion Euros), sources close to the situation recently told us. Guandong Nuclear recently asked our authorities for lots of information on the implementation of the project, our sources claim, which also said that a large delegation of the Romanian Department for energy is now in China, together with minister Dan Şova, to provide them with the requested information.

The Chinese have understood that Romania can not offer state guarantees and they are willing to discuss other options that would be favorable to both parties, the quoted sources told us.

In China, minister Dan Şova said that Chinese banks are interested in financing projects in Romania worth over 3 billion Euros, either by financing Chinese companies that want to develop projects in Romania, or by participating in the privatization of Romanian companies, according to a press release of the Department for Infrastructure Projects and Foreign Investments (DPIIS). On Wednesday, Minister Şova met with the representatives of the main financial institutions in China, namely the leaders of China Investment Corporation (CIC), China Development Bank and China Exim Bank.

Minister Şova said: "The agenda of the discussions has focused on these two subjects of a major importance both for the financial-banking Chinese institutions, as well as for the Romanian state. The first issue concerns the possible financing by these banks of the Chinese companies that are looking to develop projects in Romania, in the absence of state guarantees. The second topic on the agenda of the discussions was the possibility of beginning projects which would access the available financing as part of the facility offered by the Chinese government. We are speaking about the USD 10 billion line of credit for developing projects in cooperation with countries in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as about the fund for cooperation in investments, of 500 million US dollars, with the participation of financial-banking institutions in China".

As part of the meetings, the Romanian minister presented the projects that have priority for Romania in the near future. These include the bridge over the Danube in Brăila, the unfinished segment of the Transilvania highway, the Hydroelectric plant of Tarniţa-Lăpuşteşti, Units 3 and 4 of Cernavodă, and the Piteşti - Craiova highway.

Aside from the possibility of the financing of Chinese companies interested in developing projects in Romania, the representatives of the CIC have also expressed interest in the privatization of Romanian companies. Dan Şova said that there are currently 11 state owned companies which are in the process of being privatized.