Investment fund Fondul Proprietatea says that the sale of 8% of the shares of oil and gas group OMV Petrom by the Romanian state to the company’s employees would be “a nightmare” because “someone would feel betrayed," Ziarul Financiar reported. Fondul Proprietatea owns 10% of Petrom’s shares.

Romania’s High Court decided earlier this year that the state must sell a stake of “up to 8%” of company’s shares to “company’s employees” for the same price paid by the foreign investor (OMV of Austria) under the privatization contract. The company’s shares are traded now at a price 85% higher than that paid by the Austrian investors.

Fondul Proprietatea’s manager Johan Meyer stressed that the law invoked by the Court does not specify the precise stake (the Government can sell only 0.1% of the company’s shares, Meyer believes) or the buyers of the shares (the employees at the time of the privatization, or current employees). Irrespective of the buyers, if the Government sells 8% of the company’s shares, this will result in significant sale orders on the Bucharest Stock Exchange with a negative impact on the price.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: the company)