The calm of yesterday’s trading session on the Stock Exchange was shattered to pieces by the shares of Dacia Pitesti carmaker. An investor practically “swept” the market clean by buying every single Dacia share available, for 400 ROL up to 1,300 ROL at close, which pushed the shares up 227%.
The investor bought 1,055,000 shares for which he is to pay more than 600 million ROL. The brokers were simply shocked by this transaction, trying to find a reasonable explanation.
No one would have bought such a large amount, as neither would they have pushed the price up from 400 ROL to 1,300 ROL without getting an inside tip first, brokers say. The first explanation would be that Renault, Dacia’s main shareholder, will allegedly launch a public purchasing offer, to get the remaining 7% of the Dacia shares still not in its possession.
Dacia says such a thing is out of the question. “A public purchasing offer to buy the rest of the shares is out of the question for the short-term or for any predictable future. We have just concluded the latest capital increase, for which the last instalment is to be paid in September,” Silviu Sepciu, Dacia’s communication manager, told Ziarul Financiar.
“So far, we have received no information regarding a public offer for Automobile Dacia shares,” said Paul Miclaus, commissary of the National Securities Commission, a body regulating the capital market.
“It could be that someone mistook the order or it may have been a market manipulation. There are two rumours circulating among brokers: public offer or reassessment. It is little likely to be talking about a public offer.
Judging by the way the market looks now, Renault would have run a public offer somewhere about 200 ROL/share, not 2,000 ROL/share,” says Adrian Caramiha, a trader with Creditanstalt Investmentbank Securities Romania.
Representatives of the Bucharest Stock Exchange knew nothing about this transaction, either. “We only provide the technical system to the media and we are not supposed to oversee the market of unlisted companies. This is the turf of the National Securities Commission,” said Adriana Tanasoiu, deputy general manager of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
Last month, Dacia was demoted to the unlisted market, down from the second tier of the Stock Exchange, as it reported losses. This market is subject to fewer regulations. Companies do not have to report events and financial results. Moreover, the shares’ fluctuation price is unlimited. This made possible the increase to 1,300 ROL, up from 400 ROL.
Dacia shares are no longer popular with investors, as Renault increased its stake from 51 percent to 92.72 percent. Financial results only pointed to losses, therefore there are no gains in store for shareholders.