Orange Romania to Be Listed on the Stock Exchange

The Orange Romania assets could be listed, in 2005, at a stock exchange in Romania as well as at a capital market abroad. This option hasn’t been denied by the president of the Administration Council of the mobile telephony operator.

Jacek Siwicki, director of Enterprise Investors, stated recently that the investment funds that own allotments at Orange Romania don’t rush into selling the assets, since the telephony operator has rising profits and it could be listed on the Romanian stock exchange, as well as on an external exchange market. "Orange had high over expectations results and we could remain in the company for other two or three years. In exchange, if France Telecom makes an advantageous offer, we are open to negotiate our exit of the company", also said Siwicki, without giving any other details. The Polish fund represented by Siwicki placed approximately 20 million USD in assets of Orange Romania.

INVESTMENT LIMITING. The president of the Orange Romania Administration Council, Andrei Chirica, stated for Mediafax that the possibility of the listing has been brought into discussion since five years ago, when the financial investors entered the company. He added that the negotiations didn’t reach an end due to the telecommunication companies’ status on the financial stock markets all over the world in the last four years. In the same time, Chirica, former Communication Minister, confirmed the existence of some negotiations with the investment funds, that didn’t reach a final decision regarding the acquisition of the stocks of the minority stock-owners. According to some inside sources, the stock-owners’ approval sets the minority right of demanding the company’s assets’ listing. In the same time, the life expectancy of the funds’ investment is limited to a period of 8 to 10 years. "The demand can be made by any of the stock-owners, but the final decision must be taken after taking into account all the real success possibilities, this knowing that a stock exchange quotation means complex operations, that take a lot of time", explained Chirica.

DIFFERENT STRATEGY. If Orange Romania will be listed in 2005, than this would be an option of the main stock-owner and not of the funds, because they have been in the company for only five years, say sources in the telecommunication industry. Listing the Orange Romanian subsidiary would be something different from the France Telecom strategy, the main stock-owner of the international mobile telephony group. In the last part of the previous year, the French company extended its control over the Orange mobile telephony division up to 98.78% of the capital, after buying stocks from the minority stock-owners for 7.1 billion euros. According to the officials that wanted to remain anonymous, the alternative of the simultaneous listing at the stock exchange in Romania as well as abroad is the most probable.

BENEFITS. The minority share holders would have benefits from a double listing, since the Romanian stock exchange offers spectacular price increases, while the capital markets from the exterior can insure the sums necessary for an exit. "The internal market cannot offer a quantitative response to the Orange shares transaction, but it could evaluate the share certificates of the mobile telephony operator better than the external investors", also added the mentioned sources.

EVALUATION

"The demand can be made by any of the stock-owners, but the final decision must be taken after taking into account all the real success possibilities" - - Andrei Chirica, the Administration Council president.

COMPANY’S SHARE HOLDERS

Orange Romania reported in the first semester a turnover of 281 million euros and a portfolio of 3.957 million users.
The operational profit before the expenditures caused by the capital depreciation has reached 147 million euros, comparative to 108 million euros in the first semester of 2003. At the end of April, the share holding structure included Orange France - 51%, Wirefree Services Belgium - 22.26%, Alcatel Holland - 2.87%, two Romanian companies - MBL Computers and Radcom, each with 1.6% of the operator’s shares and AIG Consortium.