ING and Global to manage Petrom floatation

ING Baring Securities Romania and Global Valori Mobiliare were appointed to manage the floatation of the largest company in Romania, SNP Petrom.

“All we know is that the file required for BSE listing is being worked on,” Gabriel Nastase, Petrom spokesperson, told Ziarul Financiar.

According to sources on the capital market, the contract between Petrom and the two brokerage agencies has been already signed and is going to be endorsed by Petrom Management Board over the next period, when an outlay of the floating prospects will be presented.

In an optimistic variant, all the documents necessary to the floatation might be ready within one month, the above-quoted sources specified. According to the shareholders’ decision, the company will be listed on BSE over the next months. ING Baring Securities is part of Dutch group ING, while Global Valori Mobilare is a branch of Turkish group Global.

Petrom is the largest Romanian company, with a share capital worth 39,201 billion lei (1.3 billion dollars). The main shareholder is the Industry and Resources Ministry, with a 93.2% stake. The other 800,000 shareholders hold a 6.7% stake.

Petrom registered 2,228 billion lei (about 100 million dollars) in net profit last year, while total revenues amounted to 57,854 billion lei. The company granted dividends worth 1,080 billion lei.

Petrom refined 5.7 million tonnes of crude oil last year, accounting for 53% of the total amount of crude oil processed in Romania.

Petrom has two refineries, Arpechim and Petrobrazi, and a national distribution network. Petrom has lately begun to distribute its products in Hungary and Moldavia and has drilling operations in other countries.

The company’s general manager Ion Popa over the last weekend announced that rating agencies Moody’s and Fitch IBCA would assess Petrom and the results and final rating would be released at the end of May.