Romanian state owned electricity holding Electrica publicly announced its intention to launch an initial public offering (IPO) both on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) and on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The announcement was made on Friday, May 30, on the London Stock Exchange, Romania-Insider.com has learned.

"Electrica is the leading distributor and supplier of electricity in Romania and one of the most important companies in the portfolio of the Department of Energy given its past record of high and stable revenues and dividends. The listing of Electrica by the issuance of new shares continues the privatisation programme initiated by the Romanian Government with the goal of attracting private investors into the strategic state-controlled enterprises," Razvan Nicolescu, the Minister Delegate for Energy said.

The offer consists of 177 million new shares, representing 105 percent of the company's total number of existing shares. They include shares and GDRs (global depository receipts), with one GDR standing for four shares, the company announced.

Before launching the offer, Electrica needs to get the approval from the Romanian Financial Supervision Authority (ASF).

Electrica is the leading distributor and supplier of electricity in Romania. The group's core business segments are the supply and distribution of electricity.

The group's electricity distribution business is the largest in Romania both in terms of volume of electricity distributed to users and number of users.

According to the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority ANRE, in 2013 the group distributed 16.1 TWh of electricity to approximately 3.6 million users, representing 39 percent of electricity distributed in Romania.

Electrica's distribution segment operates through Electrica Distributie Muntenia Nord, Electrica Distributie Transilvania Sud, Electrica Distributie Transilvania Nord and the maintenance services company Electrica Serv and is geographically limited to the regions of Northern Muntenia, Northern Transylvania and Southern Transylvania.

Electrica’s electricity supply business is also the largest in Romania in terms of number of consumers. According to ANRE, in 2013 the group supplied 9.7 TWh of electricity to approximately 3.56 million end consumers, representing 22.1 percent of the volume of electricity supplied in Romania.

In the year ended December 31, 2013, the group generated consolidated revenues of approximately RON 5.2 billion (EUR 1.18 billion) and consolidated operating profit (EBITDA) of approximately RON 749 million (EUR 170 million) from its operations.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com