Transelectrica shares plunge 5.7 percent

Several Romanians whose assets were confiscated by the communist regime received compensation shares, with some subscribing these to Transelectrica.

The company’s capitalization fell to €559.8 million, the lowest level in the past 13 months. According to the President of brokerage company Intercapital Invest, Razvan Pasol, “shares granted to former owners are responsible for yesterday’s decline.” According to current legislation, former owners were banned from selling their compensation shares for six months, with the period expiring this month.

Of the companies with high liquidity on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), Transelectrica, was subject to the sharpest decline, followed by stock of local lender Banca Transilvania (-3.41 percent), Romania’s largest company, oil giant Petrom (-2.62 percent), and state-owned natural gas transporter, Transgaz (-2.32 percent).

The stock exchange's trading session ended yesterday with a fall exceeding 2 percent of all BVB indexes. The stock market lost capitalization some €320 million in capitalization yesterday, down to €18.25 billion.