Romanian Times reported that the public offer to sell 9.84% of the OMV Petrom shares by the Romanian state has failed and it will be resumed.

Romanian Economy Ministry said that the subscription for the shares was below the 80% level, decided by the Romanian authorities when they have launched the offer.

The Economy Ministry said the government wants to fulfill the privatization assumed in the negotiations with international lenders and it will monitor markets and decide, in the future, when it is the right moment to resume the public sale process.

The Romanian state hoped it would get around EUR 610 million, if over 80% of the shares had been bought. Out of the 5.57 billion shares, 85% were destined for institutional investors and 15% to small investors.

Austria's OMV had announced that it would not participate in the public secondary sales offer, back in April. It considers that an increase of the number of shares over the current 51% would not modify the level of influence over the company.

For the whole of 2010, Petrom posted a net profit of EUR 521 million, 2.6 times more than the EUR 198 million reported a year earlier.

In 2004, Petrom was valued at EUR 2.1 billion and Austria's OMV paid EUR 699 million for a 33.34% stake. It later increased its share in the Romanian oil company to 51%, through a capital increase of EUR 830.6 million.

Petrom, majority owned by Austria's OMV AG, is the largest gas and oil producer in southeast Europe.

(Sourced from www.romaniantimes.at)