Shares offered to Petrom personnel employed since 2003

The 8% stake in Petrom earmarked for employees will be sold to the staff employed by the company since August 2003, according to a Government draft decision put together by the AVAS (The State Assets Resolution Agency), which will be sent for approval to the ministries within a week. “We have received the views of the Ministry of Justice, which defines what is meant by employees. The Ministry of Justice has established employees that have the right to buy up to 8% of the stake are those employed by Petrom between the date when the law that awards them this right is published and the publishing of the Government decision which will enable the sale, which is our (The AVAS) view, as well,” stated the president of the AVAS, Teodor Atanasiu (photo). Petrom shares will be sold to the employees for the same price levied when the shares were transferred to Austrian group OMV during privatisation. Petrom employees will be able to buy the shares at a price of about 0.178 RON/share, over 3 times smaller than the currently Stock Exchange quotations. On Friday, Petrom shares fell by 1.7%, closing at 0.585 RON a share. The Stock Exchange capital of the company stands at 9.85 billion euros, with the 8% stake earmarked for the employees being valued at nearly 790 million euros. The shares will be sold from the stake of the AVAS, which early this year took over the 30.862% minority stake, which had previously been part of the portfolio of the Ministry of Economy and Commerce.