The three founders have stayed on in the business.
Stefan Gadola, Peter Pal and Ioan Socea have had equal shares and held the same position in the business which started in 1990 in an apartment, with a fax machine and $50, and which has now come to compete against international heavyweights on the energy equipment market.
The announcement of the transaction comes after representatives of EnergoBit had said from the beginning of this year that they had received offers from foreign investors.
“We have developed continuously during these years, but at some point we had to take a bigger step. We received an offer we could not refuse, and not just in financial terms,” says Stefan Gadola, vice-president of EnergoBit. The EBRD and Innova came separately, he explains.
“I never would have guessed that the EBRD would become a shareholder in our company. The EBRD is a well-respected institution,” Gadola adds.
In the middle of last month, the company owned by the three Cluj businesspeople received an award at the “Business Champions” event organized by Ziarul Financiar in partnership with investment fund Enterprise Investors, the largest local bank – BCR, fiscal audit and consultancy firm PwC and the Triple Helix foundation. The awards were handed out to Romanian entrepreneurs who recorded spectacular turnover rises and stayed profitable throughout the crisis.
Stefan Gadola did not say how much each of the three entrepreneurs was left with in the company, but said all three had stayed in the business. The EnergoBit representative did not reveal the value of the transaction or the current shareholder structure.
According to market sources, investment fund Innova Capital, which controls businesses such as La Fantana on the Romanian market, will hold around 53% in EnergoBit after the transaction is finalized, while the EBRD could pay up to EUR20 million for its stake.
“Giving a 22 year-old child away is no easy thing to do, but there comes a time when you wonder what is the best thing you can do for it. (…) We are now thrilled about what we have done. I don’t think we could get this opportunity again,” Gadola explains.
According to him, it could take 2-3 months until the transaction is approved by the Competition Council and finalized. In the meantime, a plan to develop EnergoBit will be sketched together with the new shareholders.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)