After in 2004 the Romanian state relinquished the majority stakein Petrom, Romania's largest company, to Austrian-held OMV, a dealthat brought it 669 million euros plus a capital increase to 1.5billion euros, now the Economy Ministry is preparing to sell 11.84%of its remaining stake in Petrom, in a deal that could bring itover 400 million euros.
According to yesterday's stock exchange prices, the over 6.7million shares put up for sale by the state are now worth aroundtwice as much as they were at the time of the privatisation. So, ifthe state were to sell now the 33.34% stake it relinquished in2004, it would have collected 1.2 billion euros instead of the 669million euros it received from OMV. The remaining shares, up to51%, represented a capital increase.
As early as last month, Minister of Economy Adriean Videanuannounced the state would keep an around 8% stake in Petrom, amandatory stake for the company's employees. In fact, officials ofthe Economy Ministry said at the time that the state preparing itswithdrawal from the shareholder structure of the biggest company inRomania was not a "historic moment" because the state did not haveany say in the decision-making process anyway.
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