Renault set to launch Dacia offer

Eagerly awaited for several months by the Stock Exchange speculators, the compulsory public takeover offer to be launched by Renault in order to delist Automobile Dacia may come much sooner than expected.
According to market rumours, the offer will be launched neither for 5,000 ROL/share, as the optimists were hoping, nor for 2,000 ROL/share, as the pessimists had predicted, but for a price revolving around 1,000 ROL/share. Or even less, which will make many speculators regret having bought Dacia shares for 2,400 ROL this year.
Dacia officials and representatives of the minority shareholders on Tuesday implied the offer was imminent and pointed at an estimated price level.
“The takeover offer by Renault will most likely be launched this year. I believe the price will be above the face value (i.e. 1,000 ROL),” said Constantin Stroe, vice-president of Automobile Dacia.
On the other hand, the Association of Romanian Shareholders (AAR) says Renault will use a recent appraisal that valued the unitary net asset (total net asset/number of shares) at 658 ROL, in order to launch the offer for a smaller price than the face value.
“This value is not only ridiculously small, but also questionable, considering Renault paid the equivalent of more than 5,000 ROL/share upon privatisation and that the fiscal incentives offered by the Romanian state are spectacular. Moreover, 240 million dollars have been invested in the past years and Renault management was expected to increase the company’s value per share,” AAR says.
In response, Stroe says “Renault could have bought cheaper Dacia shares, when they were traded for 400 ROL, either directly or through middlemen.”
Both sides have been waging a tough war of statements and have been lobbying the Romanian officials lately. The French have fought to pay less for the minority shareholders’ stakes, as the total value of the offer would have exceeded 70 million dollars, had the price paid by Renault for Dacia privatisation (5,000 ROL/share) been considered.