OMV Petrom shareholders approve group's London Stock Exchange listing

Romania's OMV Petrom gas and oil group got approval from its shareholders to be listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). The company will issue GDRs (global depository receipts) for this secondary listing. Its Executive Board has the mandate to carry this on until December 31^st 2016. The group's shares are currently also trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB). According to Energy World Magazine the Austrian group OMV, a major shareholder of the company, and, the Proprietatea Fund have voted in favor of the group's listing on the LSE. The Romanian State, however, through its representative,the Ministry of Energy ,which owns more than 20 percent of the shares, voted against. As Romania Insider points out, OMV Petrom is the largest company listed in Romania. It has a market capitalization of EUR 4,37 billion. According to the same source, the “Bucharest Stock Exchange and the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority have been trying to curve the enthusiasm related to the local companies’ London listings, as these may deter big investment funds to come to Romania, as long as they have the big Romanian companies available in London as well.”
Unfortunately, since the BVB remains to small to attract big investors, companies will most likely continue their preference for dual listings.