The Proprietatea Fund Wants A Bigger Stake In The Energy Sector

The management of the Proprietatea Fund, as well as several of the private shareholders of the company, are trying to block in court the creation of the two national energy companies "Electra" and "Hidroenergetica". They consider that the Fund may be shortchanged in the allocation of the stakes in "Electra", according to a contestation filed with the Trade Registry.

The action taken by the management of the Proprietatea Fund comes from the government"s refusal to restore the 20% stake that the Fund was supposed to receive in "Nuclearelectrica", according to the law, but which was gradually shrunk to 9.73%, following a share capital increase performed in 2006 and 2007, according to data of the Trade Registry.

"We have filed this opposing action because we have a disagreement concerning the size of the stake that the Proprietatea Fund would receive in the new energy company, pro-rata with its stake in Nuclearelectrica", said for BURSA, Ionuţ Popescu, the general manager of the Fund, who added: "When creating the new energy company, the stake that the Fund received in it was calculated based on its 9.73% holding in Nuclearelectrica, instead of the one of 20% that we consider we should have, which is why we have decided to file this opposition motion".

In February, the government approved the Decree for the creation of the two national energy companies, with one of the two - "Electra" - set to include the Energy Complexes of Oltenia, "Nuclearelectrica", the Oltenia "National Lignite Company" Oltenia, three branches of "Hidroelectrica" as well as "Hidroserv" Râmnicu Vâlcea.

"Hidroenergetica" will include the rest of the branches of "Hidroelectrica", "Electrocentrale" Bucharest, "CTE" Deva and CET Paroşeni (owned by Termoelectrica), and the "National Coal Company".

84.39% of "Electra" will be controlled by the Ministry of the Economy (413.5 million shares), whereas the Proprietatea Fund will have a stake of 15.09% (73.9 million shares), according to the project to divide and then incorporate "Hidroelectrica" into the two national energy companies.

The Proprietatea Fund currently holds 19.94% of "Hidroelectrica".

According to the law, the opposing action needs to be submitted with the Trade Registry, but the ruling will be made by the Court.

FORMER OWNERS WILL ONLY RECEIVE SHARES IN THE PROPRIETATEA FUND INSTEAD OF CASH

THE GOVERNMENT YESTERDAY APPROVED THE DECREE BY WHICH FORMER OWNERS WHOSE PROPERTIES WERE CONFISCATED BEFORE 1989 WILL ONLY BE COMPENSATED WITH SHARES IN THE PROPRIETATEA FUND, OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS.

SO FAR THE LEGISLATION PROVIDES THAT FORMER PROPERTY OWNERS ARE ENTITLED TO RECEIVE COMPENSATION OF UP TO 500,000 LEI IN CASH, WITH ANY AMOUNTS THAT EXCEED THAT FIGURE TO BE PAID BACK USING SHARES IN THE PROPRIETATEA FUND. THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS HAVE SAID THAT THIS DECISION IS DUE TO THE CURRENT DIFFICULTIES OF THE BUDGET.