“The evolution of the current crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of Romanian companies, the problems they face, but also brought opportunities to develop, which can become reality if these companies have access to the necessary financing: the Bucharest Stock Exchange is an essential pillar for accessing capital for their development and, implicitly, for the local economy,” the Bucharest Stock Exchange said in a statement.
At present, the private pension funds are the largest shareholders on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, with an estimated percentage of 25% to 30% of the total listed shares.
“These pension funds hold part of population assets. Thus, we can say that the listings should be seen as a transfer of assets from the state to citizens. We believe that this trend must continue and even further develop, especially with regard to encouraging direct holdings of financial assets by the population,” per a statement of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
Listing state-owned companies on the stock exchange and increasing the listed percentages of state-owned companies, along with encouraging and stimulating the population’s access through fiscal measures will contribute to increasing the well-being of Romanians in the long run, improving savings and developing a representative, educated and financially solid middle class.
The sale of shares carried out by the Romanian state through the Bucharest Stock Exchange in the last 15 years had an obvious positive impact on those companies. By applying corporate governance regulations and transparency to the activities of these companies, very good results were achieved, as evidenced by the high quality of management teams, solid financial results and significant dividends paid each year. Undoubtedly, the Romanian state is ultimately the main beneficiary of these listings. Also, in many of these companies the state still owns over 50% of the shares, which proves that the sale of minority stakes on the stock exchange, while preventing the state ownership to fall below this threshold, does not diminish the level of control and strategic influence of the state in these companies. In this regard, it is important to note that listing does not mean privatization, and the state can still have control over these economic operators.
“We believe that policy makers must take into account all aspects (social, economic, financial, etc.) when initiating legislative projects as their impact may affect the economic activity and development projects of all economic agents,” per BVB representatives.