Romanian restitution fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP) budgeted expenditures in the amount of RON 8.2mn (EUR 1.7mn) for the listing of the shares of state-controlled salt company Salrom. Fondul Proprietatea owns 49% of Salrom's share capital, a stake valued at RON 318mn (EUR 64mn) – which represents approximately 13.6% of FP's net asset value.

The remaining 51% of the shares are controlled by the Romanian state, through the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship, and Tourism.

Listing Salrom’s shares has been envisaged by both the state and FP. The Romanian Government has been discussing since the summer of 2022 the listing of Salrom on the Bucharest Exchange through an initial public offering (IPO), after in July 2021 the Salrom shareholders approved the listing in principle.

"We want to complete the listing of Salrom on the Bucharest Stock Exchange in the first half of 2023, thus increasing the number of important issuers listed on the main market," Johan Meyer, CEO of Franklin Templeton Bucharest and portfolio manager of Fondul Proprietatea, said in July 2022.

Salrom reported record revenues and profit in 2022, its activity being stimulated by the war in Ukraine.

The net profit doubled compared to 2021, to RON 121mn (EUR 24mn), while the revenues increased by 36.5% y/y to RON 498mn (EUR 100mn).

(Photo: Andranik Hakobyan/ Dreamstime)

iulian@romania-insider.com