UPDATE 1 - Romania’s Proprietatea Pushing for Hidroelectrica, Nuclearelectrica IPOs

(adds analyst comment, updates share price)

BUCHAREST (Romania), August 19 (SeeNews) – Romanian listed property restitution fund Proprietatea [BSE:FP] said it is seeking the convocation of general shareholders' meetings at local energy companies Hidroelectrica and Nuclearelectrica to ask for their flotation on the Bucharest bourse.

Proprietatea is a minority shareholder in majority state-owned hydropower company Hidroelectrica and in nuclear power plant operator Nuclearelectrica, also majority state-owned.

The shareholders' meetings should take place within 60 days from the date on which Proprietatea submitted the relevant request, the fund said in a statement.

“We strongly believe that Hidroelectrica and Nuclearelectrica are ready to come to the market and that this process should commence as soon as possible. The companies need more financing, more transparency and openness, better corporate governance and efficiency,” Proprietatea manager Greg Konieczny said in the statement.

“We are confident that IPOs [initial public offerings] for Hidroelectrica and Nuclearelectrica can be very successful, attracting more investors to the market and enhancing the value of the portfolio of Proprietatea,” Konieczny added.

Raiffeisen Capital & Research said in a note to investors on Friday that even if the requests are approved, the actual listings can be postponed for a relatively long time. "Therefore, although we view the Fund’s active stance as positive, we expect the news to have a limited impact on the share price.”

Proprietatea’s stock was trading down 4.41% at 0.4395 lei ($0.15/0.10 euro) by 1024 GMT on the Bucharest Stock Exchange on Friday.

(1 euro = 4.2678 Romanian lei)

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