Bucharest Stock Exchange CEO Ludwik Sobolewski named president of Romanian Post before privatization

Polish Ludwik Sobolewski, who is currently CEO of Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) is the new president of the board for Romanian state owned postal company Posta Romana. His mandate will be to help prepare the company for privatization. “I accepted this position and most likely it will be for a short period of time. Posta Romana is on the eve of a major privatization process. I don’t define my mission as exceeding the time it takes for the company to get ready for privatization,” Sobolewski said on Wednesday, June 11, in a meeting with the press. He added that he is still yet to establish what will be his engagement as part of this mandate. He said this will be a provisional mandate and that he will probably step down once the company is ready for privatization, as one of the options for this is a listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Posta Romana has been undergoing a large reorganization process in recent years, as it has been struggling due to competition from private courier companies, but also due to internal inefficiencies. In the last five years, the company accumulated some EUR 130 million in losses. In 2013, Electrica’s turnover was EUR 261 million, almost 20 percent lower compared to 2009. The state, the main shareholder in Posta Romana, fired the company’s general manager Ion Smeeianu, and named Alexandru Petrescu as interim. Romanian investment fund Fondul Proprietatea holds a 25 percent minority stake in the company. Sobolewski, the new president of the board, took the helm of the Bucharest Stock Exchange in August 2013, after having led the Warsaw Stock Exchange for seven years. editor@romania-insider.com