Three consortiums have submitted bids for the intermediation of the listing of Romgaz on the BSE

Three consortiums which include major financial groups - JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Citibank - as well as brokerage firms, have yesterday submitted bids at the headquarters of the OSPI for the intermediation of the listing of Romgaz on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, the biggest IPO ever conducted in Romania.

One of the consortiums includes Goldman Sachs, Erste, BCR, Raiffeisen Capital&Investment and Intercapital Invest, (only as a subcontractor, because the company had already participated with BCR in the offering for Transelectrica and there were some restrictions stipulated in the tender book).

A second bid was submitted by the consortium consisting of JP Morgan - UniCredit CAIB - Alpha Finance - Alpha Bank-BT Securities, and the third was submitted by Citibank - Société Générale - BRD and ING Bank.

The deadline for submitting tenders for the sale of 15% of the shares of Romgaz expired on January 16th, at 10:00.

In mid-December, the head of the Office For The State's Interests and Industrial Privatization (OPSPI), Florin-Laurenţiu Vlădan, was saying that the IPO may be launched in June or September 2012, Mediafax informs.

According to the letter of intent signed by the Government with the IMF in the latest negotiations, in the autumn of 2011, the procedure for the IPO of Romgaz on the BSE will be completed by the end of June.

The IPO of Romgaz will be the greatest in the history of the BSE. Analysts predict that the state could earn about 300 million Euros.

The Ministry of the Economy owns 85% of the shares of Romgaz, and the Proprietatea Fund (FP) owns 15% of the shares. Romgaz has a share capital of 383 million lei, divided into 38.3 million shares with a face value of 10 lei.

The government has made the commitment to the IMF to sell 15% of each of the following: Romgaz, Transelectrica and Transgaz, at least 10% of Hidroelectrica and Nuclearelectrica, 10% of OMV Petrom, a 20% stake of CFR Marfă and up to 20% of Tarom.

The brokerage firms for Transelectrica and Tarom have already been selected, and the offerings are expected to take place in February and by the end of April, respectively. The operation in Transelectrica will be intermediated by the consortium made up of BCR, Intercapital Invest and Swiss Capital, and the IPO of Tarom will be assisted by brokerage firms Carpatica Invest and Swiss Capital. In fact, the two consortiums were the only ones to submit bids for the selection of the intermediary.

In the case of Transgaz as well, the only bid received by the government came from the consortium consisting of Raiffeisen Capital & Investment, BT Securities and Czech brokerage firm Wood& Co., but it hasn't announced whether the syndicate in question would intermediate this offering. The offering is expected to take place in the March-April period.