Digi raises EUR 210 mln in record IPO on Bucharest Stock Exchange

Digi Communications, the company controlling telecom operator RCS&RDS, which is investigated in a corruption case, has raised RON 956.7 milion (EUR 210 million) in an initial public offering (IPO) that took place on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB). The company sold a 25.6 percent stake, according to News.ro.

The company sold 23.9 million class B shares, with the price set at RON 40/share for institutional investors. This was the biggest IPO of a private company on the BVB. The company is valued at EUR 820 million.

Digi shares will start trading on May 16. The company planned to raise up to RON 1.2 billion from this offering.

The share offer for retail investors was quicly oversubscribed in the first hours of the IPO. The pricing for retail investors stood at RON 37.2/share for acqusitions made in the first five days of the offering. It climbed to RON 38.8/share in the last three days of the IPO.

Citigroup and Deutsche Bank were joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners of the IPO. BT Capital Partners was joint bookrunner and lead manager. The joint bookrunners of the IPO were BRD-Groupe Societe Generale, Raiffeisen Bank add Wood&Company Financial Services.

RCS&RDS said earlier this week, while the IPO was underway, that it was being investigated by anti-graft prosecutors in Romania over a broadcasting contract for the Football League 1 that ran between 2008-2011. The former head of RCS&RDS, Alexandru Oprea, is prosecuted in this case among officials that are currently in the management team of the company.