Romania’s Govt. allows state bodies to block hostile takeovers in strategic companies

The Ministry of Energy drafted an emergency ordinance in Romania to allow the ministries acting as minority shareholders in strategic companies to exert their pre-emptive rights when the majority shareholder seeks to sell its shares, Economica.net reported.

The bill was reportedly drafted to give the ministry the right to block the potential sale of the majority stake in E.ON’s supply units to MVM of Hungary.

At the moment, the law does not allow public institutions to buy shares issued by commercial companies, and they do not have the right to participate in share purchases under the penalty of nullity of sales contracts.

The ministry invokes several essential aspects to justify the bill, among which are the tense international context and the instability of the financial markets, as well as the increase in hostile takeover attempts directed against strategic Romanian companies listed on the stock exchange. The document claims that, in the last semester, there has been an increase of approximately 10% in the hostile takeover attempts directed against companies of strategic interest, whose capital is traded on regulated markets.

This situation, the ministry claims, represents a significant risk for national economic security, given the possible sharp decapitalization of the main state companies.

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