Romgaz, 5 years on Bucharest Stock Exchange
After five years since its listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Romgaz – the largest gas producer and the main gas supplier in Romania, is on top of transactions, and the share price went up 15% compared to the offering price.
The listing of the National Gas Company Romgaz, under the SNG symbol, has been one of the largest offerings carried out by the Romanian state through the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE). SNG titles started trading on the main market of BSE on 12 November 2013, following the successful development of an initial public offering worth a total of RON 1.7bn, carried out both on BSE and LSE (London Stock Exchange). For Romania, it was the largest offering carried out by the Romanian state through BSE until that date and the second largest after Electrica’s listing, a year later.
“Romgaz listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange has been an important moment in company’s history. Listing has increased the degree of transparency and communication with investors, the business environment and public in Romania and abroad. Romgaz has assumed its responsibilities arising from company’s listing, i.e. reporting and communicating the important events in the life of the company to the stock exchange. We shouldn’t forget the image boost from which a listed company benefits. Institutional and individual investors, the press in general, the business environment monitor closely the company’s evolution and help enhancing the reputation, promoting and developing our business,” Romgaz CEO Adrian Volintiru has stated.
“Romgaz is the state-owned company with the largest share in several indices of the Bucharest Stock Exchange and represents an important investment anchor for institutional investors, such as investment funds or pension funds. Romgaz is also an example of success for other state-owned companies that can be listed on the Romanian stock exchange. Resuming the process of listing state-owned companies means transparency, and transparency on the stock exchange translates in money. Company’s shareholders will be able to benefit later from the advantages of listing, such as the possibility to increase the share price or grant dividends,” BSE CEO Adrian Tanase has stated.
In 2013, the Romanian state, the majority shareholder of SNG, sold 15% of the registered capital of the company. The offering aimed at the sale of a maximum number of 57,813,360 shares issued by the company, as shares and Global Depository Receipts (GDRs). The sale price was RON 30/share and USD 9.25/GDR, which made the total value of the offering to be RON 1.7bn. The price per SNG share was RON 34.5 in early November, which means an increase by 15% compared to the offering price.
“Romgaz is one of the largest and most traded issuers on BSE. In the first ten months it recorded a trading value with Romgaz shares of RON 850mln. Romgaz is one of the listed companies of significant size in Romania that has attracted and will attract significant investments from world-class institutional investors, which will help the capital market in Romania get closer to the strategic objective of promotion to the emerging market status. The more such performing companies we have on the stock exchange, the more will Romania benefit from increased investments and new jobs, and all these will translate into welfare for Romanians,” Lucian Anghel, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BSE, has stated.
“Listing on the capital market forces us to achieve performance. We currently have several directions. First of all, we will continue investments in onshore exploitation, also focusing on the replacement of reserves with new ones. We want to invest in the petrochemical industry and obviously in consolidating our position on energy trading markets. In the field of electricity production, Romgaz aims to streamline its activity by making investments to increase the yields of Iernut Power Plant, comply with the environmental requirements and increase safety in operation,” Romgaz CEO Adrian Volintiru has mentioned.
The value of dividends distributed to SNG shareholders during 2013-2017 was almost RON 7.4bn. The largest shareholder of SNG, with a 70% stake, is the Romanian state through the Ministry of Energy.
About Romgaz
Romgaz is the largest gas producer and main gas supplier in Romania. The company is admitted to trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and on London Stock Exchange (LSE). The main shareholder is the Romanian state, with a 70% stake. The company has an extensive experience in gas exploration and production, its history starting more than 100 years ago, in 1909. Romgaz conducts geological research for the discovery of new gas fields, it produces gas by exploiting the fields within the company’s portfolio, stores gas underground, makes interventions, capital repairs and special well operations and provides professional services for technological transportation.
As of 2013, Romgaz has extended its activity by assimilating the Iernut power plant, thus becoming an electricity producer and supplier.
About the Bucharest Stock Exchange
The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) is carrying out the most advanced and complex program among the European capital markets to increase the level of financial education. Dedicated mainly to existing or potential investors, as well as to entrepreneurs, BSE’s activities aim to contribute significantly to the development of the Romanian financial culture.
The technical part has also been among the priorities of the BSE, which has developed the XT Arena trading platform, used by several intermediaries.
