Fondul Proprietatea sold a little over 632.48 million Petrom shares at a price of RON0.39 a share, 6% lower than the latest market price of RON0.415 a share.
The fund had planned to sell 1.77% of its 20.11% stake in Petrom for an estimated amount of RON445 million.
J.P. Morgan Securities acted as global coordinator and joint bookrunner on the deal.
“The key motivation of Fondul Proprietatea in undertaking this transaction was to create a liquidity event in Petrom shares, resulting in higher trading volumes post-transaction and potentially a higher share price,” the fund’s manager Franklin Templeton said in a statement later Friday.
It said proceeds from the transaction could be used for buybacks and other value-enhancing operations for shareholders.
The placement, the largest ever accelerated book building in Romania and in southeast Europe, drew 46 orders from investors, of which 63% from investors who are not current shareholders in Petrom, Franklin Templeton said.
“We consider the OMV Petrom placement a successful one, as it is the largest private placement ever done on the Romanian market and it has drawn new investors and liquidity to Petrom, which remains an important shareholding of Proprietatea Fund,” it noted.
Fondul Proprietatea was set up in 2005 to compensate Romanians whose properties were seized during communism.
The fund has a share capital of RON13.77 billion lei, split into 13.77 billion shares with a face value of RON1.
End-April, foreign investors held 64.33% of the fund’s shares, while residents had 33.68%.
Thursday, Fondul Proprietatea closed up 0.76% at RON665 a share in Bucharest. (EUR1=RON4.3375)