Romania plans to list stakes worth 15-20 percent each in the two major energy companies it wants to create as part of an energy sector overhaul, Deputy Economy Minister Tudor Serban said yesterday.
The reform envisages integrating largely inefficient assets into two holdings which should become fully operational by the second half of 2010.
The ministry plans to prepare a law setting up the holdings by October.
Officials say the overhaul, which critics say lacks transparency and credible details, should help lower energy costs and raise competitiveness with regional power giants.
“We intend to list stakes, but we won’t list more than 15-20 percent,” Serban told an energy seminar. He did not offer a potential timing for the listings. Serban said the potential listings also involve Fondul Proprietatea, a state-owned investment fund set up to compensate Romanians whose properties were seized under communism.
With assets worth roughly 3.5 billion euros and bourse listing plans for 2010, Fondul Proprietatea holds 5-20 percent stakes in most state-owned assets, including energy firms.
(www.kathimerini.gr, 09/17/2009)