The previous deadline for an initial public offering of Nuclearelectrica’s shares was set for the second half of July, but the process has been deferred a few times before.
“Technically, the listing proceedings should have been underway, but the process failed to start from reasons independent of us,” said Gabriel Dumitrascu, head of the privatization office at the ministry’s energy division.
“The IPO will be postponed to late August.”
The ministry official said state-run energy holding CE Oltenia will be listed in Bucharest in the first half of 2014, while hydropower generator Hidroelectrica could launch an IPO “sometime next fall.”
Energy Minister Constantin Nita said recently that the ministry hopes to attract between 300 and 350 million lei (66.7 to 77.8 million euro) from the planned sale of a 10% stake in Nuclearelectrica.
He said the public offering would include three separate packages for corporate and retail investors.
Nucleareletrica is majority owned by the Economy Ministry, with a 90.28% stake, while investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP. RO) holds the remaining shares.
The company operates two 700-megawatt reactors in Cernavoda, covering around 20% of Romania’s energy consumption. (EUR1=RON4.3895)