Shares in the Hidroelectrica initial public offer were oversubscribed 4.7 times, to RON 6.25 billion, and this historic success of the electricity company’s IPO shows that it was a correct option that exceeded all expectations, according to Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja, write Agerpres.

„We are talking about an event more than ten years into the making and the biggest listing in the history of the Bucharest Stock Exchange as well as in the recent regional history of the capital markets. To list a company means transparency, it means capitalisation, it means, in fact, a modern market economy,” Burduja is quoted as saying in a press statement released by the Energy Ministry on Wednesday.

The largest IPO in the history of Romania came to an end on Tuesday, with the closing of the listing offer on the stock exchange of the energy producer Hidroelectrica, through which the minority shareholder Fondul Proprietatea (FP) put up for sale 78 million shares for roughly RON 8.8 billion . In eight days, small investors allocated 6.2 billion lei, which is an absolute record.

Investors who did not manage to subscribe shares in the June 23 – July 4 session can buy them directly on the Bucharest Stock Exchange from July 12, when the Hidroelectrica stock will officially start trading under the symbol H2O.

According to a press release from Hidroelectrica, the final offer price at the initial public offer (IPO) carried out by Fondul Proprietatea for its shares in Hidroelectrica was set at RON 104 per offer share, which gives a market capitalisation of RON 46.8 billion (EUR 9.4 billion).

„The offer was oversubscribed several times at the offer price, with the demand being high both from global and Romanian investors. (…). The company and the selling shareholder decided to reallocate shares from institutional tranche to retail tranche, and as a result institutional investors were allocated 71,766,542 shares and retail investors were allocated 17,941,635 shares, representing 80% and 20%, respectively, of the total number of shares sold. The pro rata allocation factor calculated for the retail tranche of the IPO is 0.3209762650,” according to a press statement released by the company.

The main investors purchased a total equivalent of RON 2.24 billion in shares at the offer price, subject to certain customary conditions. Settlement will take place on July 10, 2023.

Hidroelectrica is the largest energy producer in Romania in terms of the amount of energy produced and an important player in the hydropower field in Europe. The group owns and operates 182 hydropower plants, five pumping stations and a wind farm that are strategically located in eight geographically organised branches in Romania.

The company owns a production portfolio 100% from renewable sources, with an installed hydroelectric production capacity of 6.3 GW and an installed onshore wind capacity of 108 MW in the Crucea wind farm.