The shareholders of Romanian electricity producer Hidroelectrica, namely the Ministry of Energy and private investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP), approved the distribution of 760 million euros from last year’s profit as dividends.
The Ministry of Energy agreed with Hidroelectrica’s proposal to distribute 560 million euros from the 2021 profit, but also approved FP’s request for a 200 million euros special dividend paid out of Hidroelectrica’s retained earnings.
For a company valuation of 10 billion euros, the latest value estimated by Fondul Proprietatea, this results in a 7.6 % yield. In addition to this, and based on the evaluations provided by Fondul Proprietatea, Hidroelectrica also generated an average annualized capital gain of over 20 % (calculated in euros) over the past five years.
From the dividends just approved by the shareholders, the Romanian state will receive over 600 million euros.
In early 2022, Romanian Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu said that FP will list at least 15 % of shares of Hidroelectrica on the Bucharest Stock Exchange as soon as possible, without waiting for the Government to join in. He said that the imposed ban prevents the Government to launch an IPO of its shares in Hidroelectrica, but it supports listing the entire stake of FP or a part of it on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Prior to the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic, the Government planned to list 10 % of its shares in the company.
Hidroelectrica is the largest producer of green energy in Romania and the main provider of balancing services required in the national electricity system. The company operates a total of 209 hydropower plants, with combined installed capacity of 6,482 MW. Recently it acquired Crucea wind farm, with an installed capacity of 108 MW.
