Moldova To Offer for Sale on Bourse Stakes in 61 Companies

The stakes will be offered for sale between December 17 and December 19, APP said in a statement.

The list includes stakes in local EuroCreditBank, pharmacies, transportation companies, canneries and five tobacco processing companies.

The government will also try to sell a 85.5% stake in its UNIC department store with a starting price of 450 million lei ($43 million/34 million euro). The price was raised from 402.2 million lei asked in the previous auction held earlier this month, when no interested investors turned up.

Moldova received 155 million lei from the sale of state-owned assets last year, down from 167.6 million lei in 2006. It has said it hopes to raise 200 million lei from privatisation deals in 2008.

(1 euro=13.0936 Moldovan lei)