Romania to raise EUR 390 mln via oversubscribed IPO of state gas firm Romgaz

The Romanian state will raise EUR 390 million via the recently finalized Initial Public Offering (IPO) of state-owned gas company Romgaz Medias. The state was hoping to raise between EUR 312 million and EUR 415 million from the sale. The 15 percent sale via the IPO was a success, and a higher than expected demand was registered from small investors, which initially had been allotted a 15 percent part of the offer, which was then raised to 20 percent. There were 11,900 purchase orders from small investors, and the value of purchase orders reached some EUR 1.1 billion. Meanwhile, in the institutional investors segment, there were 204 purchase orders, with the demand for Romgaz shares going up to EUR 1.7 billion, according to the Energy Department, the seller. The sale price per share was of RON 30 – the equivalent of some EUR 6.8 per share. Overall, the Romanian state sold 57.8 million shares, with the price in the offer going from RON 24 to RON 32. More than half of the offer – 64 percent, was made of shares listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, while the rest was made of Global Depositary Receipts (GDR) listed on the London Stock Exchange LSE. The demand from institutional investors, such as investment funds, was higher for GDRs than for shares, as funds prefer to sell GDRs on the LSE. Romgaz reported total gas sales revenues of EUR 586 million (RON 2.58 billion) in the first nine months of the year, down 10 percent compared to the same period in 2012. The company’s revenues from domestically produced gas sales went up 2.8 percent in the first nine months of 2013 against the same period the previous year, to some EUR 424 million (RON 1.86 billion). However, the revenues from sales of imported gas fell by over 58 percent year-on-year, to EUR 80.4 million (RON 354 million), the company said in an amendment to its IPO documents. In the third quarter of 2013, Romgaz’s gas production rose by 1.8 percent against the same period in 2012. editor@romania-insider.com