Following the meeting of Romanian Prime Minister Niculae Ciuca and the delegation of private investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP), the press release from the Government confirmed that the initial public offering (IPO) of the largest Romanian electricity producer Hidroelectrica will be launched by the end of June next year.
The Government is committed to taking the company public as part of the post-pandemic recovery and resilience funds package negotiated with the EU. It is now hopeful that the IPO will develop the local capital market and also improve the governance, transparency, and efficiency of its majority state-owned companies.
Fondul Proprietatea, which is run by investment management service Franklin Templeton, currently holds 20 % stake in Hidroelectrica, and plans to list at least a 15 % stake during the IPO. The Government will not contribute any of its shares to the listing. FP estimated its shares to be worth around 2.5 billion euros.
Hidroelectrica’s IPO has been expected for many years. In April 2012, a consortium made of BRD, Citigroup, Societe Generale and Intercapital Invest was selected to manage the sale of a 10 % stake in Hidroelectrica, but the company went into insolvency a few months later.
After Hidroelectrica completed its restructuring process, in January 2014, the Government carried out another selection process and chose Raiffeisen Bank and Morgan Stanley to manage the sale of a 15 % stake in Hidroelectrica through IPO. However, this sale did not take place.
In May 2020, Hidroelectrica selected Dentons Europe as its legal advisor for the upcoming initial public offering of the company’s shares, as well as STJ Advisors Group as an equity adviser to provide consulting services for the planned IPO. Previously, Hidroelectrica signed Lazard, STJ and Deloitte as consultants in the process of preparing the company’s initial public offering (IPO) on the stock exchange.
