Romanian Oil/Gas Group Petrom Launches Buyout Bid for Petrom Aviation

“The offering period will unfold starting December 16, 2008 when more information will be published on the company’s website,” Petrom said in a statement.

In October, Petrom acquired 20.87% of Petrom Aviation for some 2.5 million euro ($3.2 million), raising its stake to 69.37%. Following the deal, Rivta Handelsges held a 6.0% stake in Petrom Aviation, Romania’s restitution fund Fondul Proprietatea held a 3.0% stake and smaller shareholders owned the balance, Petrom said in October.

Petrom Aviation's main activity is the sale of petroleum products to domestic and foreign air carriers operating at Romanian airports. It had a market share of 30% and a turnover of 154 million lei ($51.4 million/39.6 million euro) in 2007, almost unchanged from the previous year. It cut its 2007 loss by 37% to 2.4 million lei.

Petrom is a blue chip on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, where its shares were last traded 1.09% down at 0.181 lei by 0929 GMT on Thursday. Petrom Aviation shares were last traded up 2.16% at 0.236 lei by 0907 GMT on the over-the-counter market RASDAQ.

(1 euro = 3.8913 Romanian lei)