Alro SPO intended to boost free-float and company attractiveness
The Vimetco group, held by Russian businessman Vitaly Machitsky,
intends to sell 21% of its shares in aluminum smelter Alro
(ALR.RO)) via a secondary public offering that could amount to over
EUR140 million.
The announcement of the offering took the whole market by surprise,
with this being the first time in Stock Exchange's 16-year
existence when a multinational group does not delist a company but
decides to sell some of its shares.
This is why the deal could be at least as important as the sale by
the state of a 9.84% stake in Petrom, say brokers, because it would
turn Alro into one of the leading companies on the Stock
Exchange.
At present, although it is one of the biggest companies on the
Stock Exchange, with a capitalization of EUR685 million, Alro is
not interesting for big investment funds because of its low
liquidity, with only 2% of the stock being available for trading on
the Stock Exchange.
Vimetco together with Conef SA hold nearly 88% in Alro, while
Fondul Proprietatea (Property Fund - FP.RO) has recently increased
its stake by 10%, buying most of the shares available for sale in
the last few months.
Vimetco motivated its decision through a desire to increase the
free-float and implicitly the company's attractiveness.
"We intend that the SPO would allow Alro's shareholders to
capitalize on higher liquidity of their shares due to the increase
in free float. The SPO will also promote Alro's business image and
visibility on capital markets. Moreover, the SPO would be an
opportunity for those minority shareholders who believe in Alro to
increase their stake in the company, and for others to join as
shareholders", said Marian N`stase, Vimetco's CFO in a report sent
to the London Stock Exchange.