Romania’s Fondul Proprietatea to sell its stake in Transelectrica

Fondul Proprietatea (BVB ticker: FP), which is the largest investment fund in Romania, will sell its 13.5 percent stake in state controlled electricity transmission company Transelectrica (TEL), the fund announced. The fund will sell its shares via an accelerated bookbuild in a private placement it will carry on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The decision comes as the price of Transelectrica shares almost doubled in the last year. Currently, the company is valued at EUR 390 million on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, which puts the value of the 13.5 percent stake held by Fondul Proprietatea at almost EUR 53 million. The fund will probably sell its shares at a small discount to the market price, but still it should get more than EUR 49 million out of this transaction. Raiffeisen Bank and UniCredit will act as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the transaction. Local brokerage firm Broker Cluj will act as joint lead manager. This is the third large transaction carried by Fondul Proprietatea in the last nine months. The fund sold its 15 percent stake in gas transporter Transgaz (TGN), in December 2013, for EUR 68 million, and in June this year it sold a 5 percent stake in gas producer Romgaz (SNG) for EUR 147 million. Fondul Proprietatea had a net asset value (NAV) of EUR 3.47 billion, at end-May 2014, with stakes in OMV Petrom, Hidroelectrica and Romgaz accounting for more than half of that. The fund currently has a market capitalization of EUR 2.67 billion, with its shares still trading at a 30 percent discount to its NAV per share. The asset sales and the buyback program for its own shares are aimed at reducing the discount. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com