Raiffeisen Investment: RCS&RDS could sell a package of shares

“RCS&RDS shareholders are looking for collateral ways to attract funds, and the company could opt to sell a package of shares to allow funds with the company to exit from their investment. The sale could be a combination of investment fund and majority shareholder shares,” said Ioana Filipescu.

After abandoning the LSE listing, RCS&RDS announced it would again consider a listing on the London Stock Exchange by the end of 2008, although it will not exclude a listing on Romania’s capital market.

Representatives of Raiffeisen Investment, the company which in the first half of this year offered advisory services worth over €500 million in Romania, believe that the merger and acquisition (M&A) market in this country exceeded that in Poland and the Ukraine in 2007, and the expect the rhythm of growth to continue, even though global economies have been affected by the U.S. subprime crisis.

According to Raiffeisen Investment, the local market is among the top five countries in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of mergers and acquisitions last year, reaching €8.4 bln. “Romania is a much more competitive market than Poland or Ukraine, especially because it is much more open to foreigners. The Romanian market is attractive especially because of its economic development, in spite of its current inflation problems. Major investors such as Groupama come to Romania for a very long term, and Romania will grow for a very long term,” according to a declaration for Business Standard by Martin Schwedler, member of the Board of Directors of Raiffeisen Investment AG. Central and Eastern Europe posted transactions and mergers in 2007 worth over $190 bln, of which 4.4 percent in Romania.