Two new private managers are about to be named at the helms of Romanian state owned companies Transgaz and Romgaz. The former general manager of Ţiriac Holdings, Petru Vaduva (in picture), is most likely to lead Transgaz,while the head of E.ON Gaz Distribuţie, Virgil Metea,will take over the leadership of Romgaz, according to Romania's delegate minister for energy Constantin Nita.

The general shareholders meeting of the two companies were set for Monday (April 29 ), when the two managers were likely to have been named.

Petru Văduva, together with lawyer Radu Cernov and with Mihaela Preda from the Office of State Ownership and Privatization in Industry (OPSPI) recently joined the Transgaz board .

Naming private managers at the helm of state companies is a program that was started by the Romanian Government last year, at the request of its main financier the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The process has however not been easy, and most of the first batch of managers chose to reign soon after taking on the job. Mustafa Aysun, the Chairman of the Board with Romanian state owned operator CFR Marfa – Railways Freight resigned less than two months after taking on the role, while Cypriot Dimitris Sophocleous resigned from the helm of CFR following the dismissal of his management plan by the company’s board. Heinrich Vystoupil also gave up on the position of GM of state – owned airline Tarom soon after taking office.

The Romanian state recently sold the 15 percent share package in Transgaz, for EUR 72 million, during a secondary public offering.

editor@romania-insider.com