Austrian group OMV, majority shareholder of Petrom, (SNP), couldneed a capital increase this year to refinance some of the loanstaken out to make acquisitions in Turkey (Petrol Ofisi) andTunisia, and a decision could be made by the OMV management in thecoming period, say market sources.
Analysts of investment banks who monitor OMV shares, among whomAustria's Erste and Raiffeisen, have been talking about thepossibility of a capital increase since the beginning of the year,but OMV officials have not made any such announcement so far. Thatis why investors are eagerly awaiting today's conference in whichOMV will announce its quarterly financial results, as well as nextweek's general meeting of shareholders (on May 17th), in the hopeof learning more about the Austrians' intentions.
Why is the decision that OMV's Vienna bosses are set to announceimportant for Petrom? Because a prospective capital increase of theAustrian group could attract a share of the amounts that foreigninvestment funds were preparing for the Petrom offering, throughwhich the state plans to sell 9.84% of the company's shares.Scheduled for mid this year, the Petrom offering is the biggest inthe history of the local stock exchange, worth 560 million euros atthe current share price.
"Everybody is looking at what OMV is doing. Naturally, a capitalincrease would affect Petrom's offering. But it depends at whatprice the two offerings are conducted. If the price is better atPetrom, it would be the other way around," a local broker saidyesterday.
However, analysts do not believe the two offerings will competeagainst each other, even if they were to overlap.
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