The secondary public offering (SPO) of electricity distributor Transelectrica in March 2012 marked a potential breakthrough for the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB). The first listing of shares in a Romanian state-owned enterprise (SOE) since 2007 was 1.59 times oversubscribed, with the retail investor tranche 2.8 times oversubscribed. The offering, amounting to 15% of the company’s stock, raised almost €38m for the Romanian government.
This success, after the government was forced to cancel the sale of its 9.8% stake in oil company Petrom in June 2011 owing to insufficient demand, should provide a welcome boost to sentiment. It also opens the door to further planned secondary and initial public offerings in the coming months.
