“The auction commission will evaluate all bids and choose the sale consultant. The Communications Ministry and the consultant will further settle the procedure for identifying the best strategic investors in Posta Romana sale. This process will hopefully complete by the end of December,” Nica added.
The Communications Ministry wants to sell at least 20% in Posta Romana to a strategic investor, through a capital raise, as per a pledge to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Posta Romana is the largest postal operator in Romania, with a territorial network of about 7,100 post offices. The Communications Ministry owns 75% in Posta Romana, while investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO) helds the rest of the shares.
In 2011, the company’s turnover fell by 8.7% to 1.26 billion lei (EUR282 million), while the loss climbed 50% to RON182.9 million, according to Finance Ministry data. Posta Romana had debts of RON556.9 million at the end of 2011. (EUR1=RON4.4792)