Romanian state to start up huge energy company

According to Varujan Vosganian, the economy and finance minister, the new national power company could be listed on the stock exchange and will have private shareholders after another two-three years of successive listings. The minister says that there are talks for listing a share package of 55 percent of the new company and 20 percent are included in Property Fund.
“The new company should not be regarded as the government's reaction to the privatization process in the power field, but as a complementary tool to it. Such a company would have the capacity to make very large investments, a good rating on the international market and could be a part of international projects,” added Vosganian.
The Romanian prime minister, Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, is to meet power regulator representatives and power producers next week to discuss the terms for establishing the company. Creating such a power company is a European practice, the prime minister said, giving the example of the CEZ group, the Czech state-owned power company which posted “healthy revenues and profit of more than EUR 1 billion last year”. He added that the state would own a majority stake and only later seek private equity investors.
According to Romanian state officials, the funds gathered from the share enlisting will be used to participate in projects such as the Constanta-Trieste pipeline, the submarine cable between Romania and Turkey, and also for the construction of nuclear reactors in other countries.
Vosganian estimated the capitalization of the new company could reach several billion euros, considering the assets included in the new entity, which should be nuclear reactors and energy complexes.

Dana Ciuraru