Watchdog probe concludes that Rompetrol share deals are clean
BUCHAREST – A probe into the share deals of three Bucharest-listed companies owned by Rompetrol Group NV, struck on the day it announced it sold a majority stake, found nothing amiss, the capital market watchdog said yesterday. Rompetrol Group, Romania’s second largest oil firm, announced on August 27 it had sold a 75 percent stake to Kazakhstan’s state-owned firm KazMunayGaz for an undisclosed amount. Auditors valued the group at $3.6 billion. The news bolstered shares of the group’s flagship asset, Rompetrol Rafinare, but also sent those of smaller Rompetrol Well Services and Rompetrol SA to record highs. «From the investigation up until now there are no elements that lead to confirming the suspicion there were transactions with these issuers’ shares based on privileged information,» the securities commission said in a statement. The commission launched the probe into transactions done on the day of the announcement, but also the previous day, on suspicion that the sale announcement may have been improperly handled. Rompetrol has denied the allegations and said it informed the bourse and the securities watchdog of its actions at the precise moment it made the deal public in the media. However, the commission reiterated yesterday that it had not been notified of the transaction in due time. Rompetrol Rafinare shares were suspended from trade on Monday and yesterday ahead of a general shareholders’ meeting. On Friday they had closed at 0.124 lei, compared with a record high of 0.147 hit on August 29. Rompetrol Well Services shares closed at 1.770 lei, 0.6 percent lower on the day, while shares in Rompetrol SA lost 2.2 percent on the day, reaching 0.227 lei.
