The subscription was lodged for a stake of 70% of the shares available in the segment.
Romgaz, the country’s largest natural gas producer and supplier, has launched on October 22 an initial public offering of shares and global depository receipts (GDRs) in Bucharest and London. Investors were allowed to tender offers by 1:00 pm local time, but brokers can place orders until 11:30 pm today.
Romgaz is offering up to 57,813,360 shares at a price range of RON24 to RON32 per share and $7.38 to $9.84 per GDR, respectively. Retail investors are offered 15% of the available shares, while the remaining shares and GDRs are up for grabs for corporate investors.
By 1:00 pm Thursday, Romgaz’s offer in the retail segment was oversubscribed 13.6 times, with total offers in the segment reaching RON3.77 billion. According to the IPO prospectus, Romgaz might increase the amount available for retail investors.
Romgaz is majority owned by the state, through the Energy Department. The company hired a consortium comprising Austria’s Erste Bank AG (EBS.RO) together with its local subsidiary BCR, US bank Goldman Sachs and Raiffeisen Capital & Investment to help with the offering in Bucharest.
The company’s gas sales fell 10% on the year to RON2.58 billion in the first nine months of 2013, hurt by fewer sales of import gas. (EUR1=RON4.4306)