ROMANIA: Will the Romanian state once again become the majority shareholder in Electrica? What does the Minister of Energy say?
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The Romanian state would like to re-become a majority shareholder in Electrica SA and is analyzing ways to do so, Economedia wrote, citing sources. The answer of the Minister of Energy to our question confirms that there is a concern in this regard.
The state would like to buy back part of the shares of the distribution and supply group Electrica, given that, ten and a half years ago, it sold, through the Bucharest Stock Exchange, the majority stake in Electrica SA, the group’s parent company, Economedia wrote.
It was the first, and currently, the only sale of a majority stake in an energy company through the Stock Exchange, after which the Romanian state remained a minority shareholder in Electrica. However, it is still the largest shareholder, with about 49.8% of the shares.
We asked the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, about this, and from his words it appears that there is a concern in this regard.
“We created our legal framework and corrected an issue from 1997, as you know, and we allowed ministries, public authorities, to increase the number of shares in the companies in their own portfolios. We will look very carefully at all the options on the market, regardless of what the company is called, and we will decide taking into account the country’s energy security,” Burduja said.
He did not give more details, however.
“I will not speculate and I have no way of indicating any option, because these are listed companies, because the state is interested in having a good purchase price for these shares and I do not want to create a speculative effect on the capital market, nor to harm a possible acquisition by the Romanian state. The minister also said.
The quotation of an Electrica share is now about 13.4 lei, and the company has 339 million shares issued.
The Electrica Group recorded a net profit of 302.4 million lei in the first nine months of last year, down by over 38% compared to the value of 490.5 million lei recorded in the same period in 2023.
