A consortium led by French lender BRD Societe Generale will intermediate the sale of 10 percent in Romania's energy producer Hidroelectrica on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Citigroup and Intercapital Invest are part of the consortium that will broker the Initial Public Offering. Law firm Musat & Asociatii will provide legal consultancy to the state.

Romania plans to direct the money raised from this listing to the company's budget, rather than the state budget. Analysts estimate over EUR 300 million raised through this IPO, as the company is evaluated at between EUR 2.8 billion and EUR 3.9 billion.

Hidroelectrica will be listed through a social capital raise. The company will issue a 12.49 percent share stake, of which 2.49 percent can be subscribed by Fondul Proprietatea and 10 percent sold on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Fondul Proprietatea already owns 19.94 percent in the company.

The winner of the brokerage deal won the tender after competing against the consortium of UniCredit CA-IB Securities-Goldman Sachs-Unicredit Bank-Erste Group-BCR and BT Securities.

The companies that took part in the bidding are involved in other public listings of state companies in Romania this year. Goldman Sachs, Erste, BCR and Raiffeiesen Capital&Investment are currently working on the Romgaz public listing, while BCR, Erste and Intercapital Invest recently finalized the offer to list 15 percent in Transelectrica.

This is a busy year for the local stock market, which is awaiting the listings of several state companies. BT Securities, Raiffeisen Capital & Investment (RCI) and Wood& Co are to intermediate the listing of Romania's Transgaz.

The Romanian Government approved this January the sale of 10 percent in Hidroelectrica, the largest energy producer in Romania, on the BVB, as part of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Hidroelectrica’s listing procedures should be finished by end-October this year.

Hidroelectrica ended 2011 with a net profit of EUR 3.7 million, more than ten times lower than in 2010, mainly because of the drought.

editor@romania-insider.com