Romania Picks Goldman Sachs, Erste to Manage Romgaz Sale
Romania picked a group of banks led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) to manage the sale of a 15 percent stake in state-run natural-gas producer Romgaz SA through the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
The offer of the group, which also includes Erste Group Bank AG (EBS), Banca Comerciala Romana SA and Raiffeisen Capital & Investment, surpassed the bids of two other groups led by JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. (C), respectively, Florin Vladan, an Economy Ministry official in charge of the sale, said in a phone interview in Bucharest today.
“The ministry and the group will begin negotiations on the terms of the contract immediately and the documents will be signed in a maximum 10 days,” Vladan said.
The eastern European country plans to sell the Romgaz stake by the end of June to meet pledges to international lenders, which include scheduling sales of minority and majority holdings in energy and transport companies. The government failed to sell a 9.8 percent stake in the country’s biggest oil company, OMV Petrom SA (SNP), in July.
Romania needs cash to build roads, railways and expand power utilities, as it cuts spending this year to narrow its budget gap to 1.9 percent of gross domestic product from an estimated 4.4 percent in 2011. The budget cuts were agreed with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union under a 5 billion-euro ($6.5 billion) precautionary loan agreement in March last year after a 20 billion-euro bailout loan ended.
The government plans to invite subscriptions for the sale of a 15 percent interest in power-grid operator Transelectrica SA (TEL) by the end of February and for the sale of a similar stake in natural-gas grid operator Transgaz SA by the end of April.
It seeks to sell minority stakes in utilities Hidroelectrica SA and Nuclearelectrica SA in October and November, respectively, Vladan said on Dec. 14.
To contact the reporter on this story: Irina Savu in Bucharest at isavu@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net
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