Romanian state puts up for sale 450m-euro stakes on Stock Exchange

The Romanian Government will put up for sale a 15% stake in each of Transgaz (TGN) and Transelectrica (TEL), which are companies already listed, as well as 15% in gas producer Romgaz Medias, one of the most valuable companies in the portfolio of the Ministry of Economy, which it will list via a secondary public offering, according to draft Government decisions cited by Mediafax news agency.

A commission led by Economy Minister Adriean Videanu is set to oversee the sale of the three stakes, with the first step being selection of the brokerage firms that will handle the offering. After choosing the brokers, preparing the offerings could take between four months in the case of Transgaz and Transelectrica, and six months in the case of Romgaz, so the sale is not very likely to occur this year.

Romgaz is one of the "crown jewels", featuring among the most profitable companies in Romania. The company could be valued at over 2 billion euros in view of listing, so the state could get 300 million euros from the sale of a 15% stake. Transgaz and Transelectrica could fetch the state around 134 million euros more, considering the two companies' current capitalisations.