February 17 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is interested in acquiring a 5% stake in state-owned Romanian hydro power producer Hidroelectrica, local media reported on Monday.
"We support the listing of the company on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. We have a letter of intent from the EBRD who want to be part of the pre-listing procedure by acquiring a 5% stake," Ziarul Financiar newspaper quoted economy and energy minister Virgil Popescu as saying at an energy conference on Monday.
You can download the 2024 Renewable energy in Southeast Europe report here
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
"Hidrolectrica is a jewel, it is a green energy producer, EBRD joining this process will be a big win," Popescu said.
Soon after assuming office in November, Romania's liberal government led by Ludovic Orban announced plans to list stakes in Hidroelectrica and savings bank CEC on a stock exchange within a year.
Hidroelectrica exited insolvency In April 2017, which paved the way for the company's listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange expected to be the biggest in Romania’s history. The initial public offering of a 15% stake in Hidroelectrica is expected to raise 1 billion euro ($1.08 billion), the court-appointed administrator of the company said at the time.
Hidroelectrica is 80.06% owned by the Romanian state, while investment fund Fondul Proprietatea owns 19.94%.
($ = 0.9225 euro)
Hidroelectrica SA is among the biggest companies in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
here or subscribe to our free Top 100 newsletter
here