Romanian naval transport group Transport Trade Services (TTS) listed its shares on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) on Monday, June 14, after a RON 288 mln (EUR 58.5 mln) initial public offering (IPO).

On the first day of trading, the TTS shares went up by 7.3% compared to the IPO price, closing the day at RON 20.6. At this price, the company’s market capitalization is RON 618 mln (EUR 125.6 mln).

“The listing of the largest Romanian carrier on the Danube proves, once again, that offers with a significant dimension can be carried out on Bucharest Stock Exchange and that investors are willing to place their money in companies with a promising future,” said Radu Hanga, President of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

The TTS listing, managed by local brokerage firm Swiss Capital together with BRK Financial Group and Tradeville, is the biggest such transaction carried out on the Bucharest Stock Exchange in recent years. It comes after a string of smaller private placements on the BVB’s AeRO market in the last two years.

Big institutional investors in Romania were waiting for such an offer to diversify their portfolios. Two of the seven mandatory pension funds on the local market took significant stakes in TTS following the IPO: NN bought a 10.18% stake and Aegon Pensii took a 6.46% stake. They were joined by Paval Holding, an investment vehicle controlled by two of Romania’s richest – brothers Dragos and Adrian Paval, who own the do-it-yourself retailer Dedeman. Paval Holding bought 5.33% of TTS’s shares.

Individual investors took 20% of the IPO shares or a 10% stake in the company.

The company’s biggest shareholder after the IPO remains Alexandru Mircea Mihailescu, with a 25.26% stake. He sold half of his shares in the IPO for RON 145.5 mln (EUR 29.6 mln).

In 2020, TTS had consolidated revenues of RON 520 mln (EUR 106 mln) and a net profit of 48.25 mln (EUR 9.9 mln). The current market capitalization stands for a price to earnings (P/E) ratio of 12.8.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: BVB)