The transaction between Petrom and Ring Oil Holding & Trading took place in 2006, but the acquisition costs for the shares were only made public in Petrom's 2007 report.
Petrom, the largest Romanian company, paid around 100 million euros for the 74.9% stake in Cyprus-based Ring Oil Holding & Trading, which brought about Petrom's entry into Russia, one of the world's most coveted markets for exploration and production.
The deal was carried out in 2006, but the price of the stake was only revealed in Petrom's report for last year.
The Cypriot-based company was controlled by Russian shareholders, and held the entire stakes in six Russian companies, which in turn had a portfolio of exploration fields in Russia.
"The sum only represents the value paid by Petrom for the acquisition of the 74.9% stake in Ring Oil. The total value of the transaction differs, because it also includes certain taxes," said Petrom representatives, who also specified that the parties agreed not to disclose the value of the transaction.
In addition to the acquisition that brought Petrom to an extremely valuable region in terms of resources, the company performed a whole series of major acquisitions, which include the purchase of petrol station networks held by OMV, Petrom's majority shareholder, which are present in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia.
According to Petrom's report, the acquisition of OMV Romania cost 380.1 million RON (107.8 million euros, calculated at the average exchange rate in 2006). For OMV Bulgaria, Petrom paid 138 million RON (39 million euros), and for OMV Serbia, 5.6 million RON (1.6 million euros). In all three companies, Petrom holds 99.9% of shares. The value paid by Petrom for the three companies amounted to 234.4 million euros, and brought Petrom 178 petrol stations. At the beginning of this year, Petrom managed to reach 31% of the market of petroleum products sold through petrol stations in Moldova, 18% of the Bulgarian market and 13% of the Serbian market.
The number of petrol stations increased to 257, compared with the 211 held by the company at the end of 2006. Therefore, investments in retail abroad conducted by Petrom last year amounted to around 70 million euros, considering that an investment in a petrol station stands at around 1.5 million euros.
Petrom posted net profit worth 532 million euros last year, down 18% against 2006, due to lower production and amid a strong RON in the first three quarters of the year.
The company's turnover reached 3.68 billion euros (12.2 billion RON), down 1% against results posted in 2006, when turnover stood at 3.71 billion euros (13 billion RON).
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