Ciubotaru will decide which way to go after an audit that will show what is best for the group.
“It’s a natural step in our development,” says Ciubotaru, one of the few Romanian entrepreneurs in this business who owns 100% in Electroalfa group.
Electroalfa manufactures equipment for the electricity distribution sector and its clients include utility companies like CEZ, E.ON and Electrica. Electroalfa has three plants in Botosani and manufacturing branches in Bucharest, Cluj, Brasov and Iasi. The group also has divisions specializing in metallic structures and turnkey projects.
Ciubotaru said he had an audit in progress at the moment to establish which solution is best for Electroalfa. The options include sale of stake to a strategic or financial investor and an IPO. The businessman did not say how large the stake might be, though.
Gheorghe Ciubotaru started this business soon after the fall the communist regime, when he left Electrocontact Botosani, a 5,700-employee company, where he used to run a 300-people department. He has previously told ZF in an interview that Electroalfa began in a workshop making a small electronic device. Today’s Electroalfa is a EUR38.7 million business, with EUR5 million net profit and 385 employees.
“I can’t say how large the stake will be for the time being. We have an audit in progress. We might consider listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange,” Ciubotaru said.
“Anyway, we’ll choose the best way to raise capital for the company. I expect it will happen in 2015.”
The step the entrepreneur is to take is nothing new in his industry. Three entrepreneurs from Cluj who built the Energobit business with more than EUR170 million revenue, specializing in complete solutions for the energy industry, sold the majority interests in their company to Poland’s Innova Capital at the end of 2012. Another stake in Energobit went to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Electroalfa does not only operate in Romania, it also sells its products abroad, where it plans to develop fast on long term. It is currently exporting about 10% of its production to countries like France, Germany or Burkina Faso.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)