Petrom, whose shares closed Monday in Bucharest at RON0.381 per share, is 51%-owned by Austria’s OMV AG (OMV.VI), which recently announced it wouldn’t participate in the secondary public offering.
The minimum price was based on the past 52-week average stock exchange prices, people familiar with the matter told MEDIAFAX.
The brokers have proposed a minimum price of RON0.33 a share, but the government rejected this proposal, the people said.
The offer started last Monday at a maximum price of RON0.46 a share.
Should the entire stake be sold at the maximum price, the government stands to collect RON2.564 billion (EUR610 million), but if all shares are sold at the minimum price, the government will collect only RON2.06 billion (EUR483 million).
Investors who have already subscribed at a price lower than the minimum agreed by the government may update their subscriptions at prices above that limit.
The offer will unfold over two weeks up to July 22 and will be considered successful if 80% of shares are subscribed, at a price determined in compliance with the prospectus, the offer documents state.
The sale will resume next year if the state fails to sell at least 80% of the shares at the minimum price.
The shares are allotted in two tranches: 85% for corporate investors and 15% for retail investors. Should one of the tranches be insufficiently subscribed, the shares left unsubscribed will be moved to the other tranche.
The operation is brokered by a consortium formed of Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital and Romanian brokerage firms BT Securities, Romcapital and EFG Securities. (EUR1=RON4.2685)