Majority shareholder OMV will not bid in Romania's OMV Petrom secondary public offering

Austrian oil and gas company OMV, the majority shareholder in Romania's OMV Petrom will not take part in the secondary public offering initiated by the Romanian state, the group has announced. The state will sell 9.84 percent in OMV Petrom on the Bucharest Stock Exchange towards the end of May, but OMV, which already owns 51 percent of the company, chose not to buy additional shares as increasing its stake would not change the level of influence in decision making, according to the company. “The investment in Petrom proved to be a success and we are satisfied, but we chose not to make an offer for the 9.84 percent stake which will be sold through the secondary public offering,” said Gerhard Roiss, general manager and president of the board with OMV. Romania plans to reduce its stake in Petrom to 10.8 percent from the current 20.6 percent in a deal estimated at EUR 510 million, the highest transaction ever on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. More about the upcoming secondary public offering, which will be intermediated by a consortium led by Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital, hereand here. The secondary public offering is scheduled for the end of May. editor@romania-insider.com