The total value of public offers that majority shareholders should launch could exceed €200 million, considering that KazMunaiGaz alone, which controls the companies in the Rompetrol group, should contribute some €170 mln, according to calculations based on the average price in the January 2007-January 2008 period.
According to the Investors Association on the Capital Market (AIPC), some of the shareholders of the 29 companies should have launched mandatory public takeover offers as far back as 2005. Businessman Catalin Chelu, together with several companies and individuals with whom he is acting concertedly, should launch public takeover offers for ten of the 29 enterprises, including Altur Slatina, Mecanica Rotes, Spit Bucovina, and Celule Electrice.
Public takeover offers should also be launched for larger companies, such as Rompetrol Rafinare, the ARDAF insurer, Rompetrol Well Services, and the Zentiva Romania pharmaceutical producer.
“We believe that the passive attitude of the National Securities Commission [Ed. n. CNVM] is clearly in favor of majority shareholders, who engaged in these takeovers, and it is directed against minority shareholders, because the deadlines for the public takeover offers have been missed by far, and minority shareholders no longer have the possibility of withdrawing from these companies at an equitable price,” AIPC officials told CNVM.
