Petrom's second privatisation in the making

After in 2004 the Romanian state relinquished the majority stake in Petrom, Romania's largest company, to Austrian-held OMV, a deal that brought it 669 million euros plus a capital increase to 1.5 billion euros, now the Economy Ministry is preparing to sell 11.84% of its remaining stake in Petrom, in a deal that could bring it over 400 million euros.

According to yesterday's stock exchange prices, the over 6.7 million shares put up for sale by the state are now worth around twice as much as they were at the time of the privatisation. So, if the state were to sell now the 33.34% stake it relinquished in 2004, it would have collected 1.2 billion euros instead of the 669 million euros it received from OMV. The remaining shares, up to 51%, represented a capital increase.

As early as last month, Minister of Economy Adriean Videanu announced the state would keep an around 8% stake in Petrom, a mandatory stake for the company's employees. In fact, officials of the Economy Ministry said at the time that the state preparing its withdrawal from the shareholder structure of the biggest company in Romania was not a "historic moment" because the state did not have any say in the decision-making process anyway.