Fondul Proprietatea Looking To Buy More Shares In Alro SPO

05.19.2011 By Florentina Dragu

Romanian investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO) is looking to buy shares in aluminum smelter Alro (ALR.RO) in a planned secondary public offering in Bucharest, but is waiting for more details from Dutch Vimetco.

"The fund wasn't notified about Vimetco's decision prior to their announcement. We are interested in the offering, but we wait for all pertinent details before making our decision," Fondul Proprietatea told MEDIAFAX.

Fondul Proprietatea already owns 10.03% of Alro's shares.

The Netherlands-based Vimetco Thursday said it wants to sell up to 20.96% of its shares in Alro, via a secondary public offering on the Bucharest bourse.

Vimetco, owner of approximately 84.19% of Alro' shares, may conduct the SPO together with its indirect subsidiary Conef SA, a minority shareholder of Alro, with a stake of around 3.77%.

The Dutch company said proceedings will be used to finance current and future development projects.

A consortium made of Unicredit CAIB Securities Romania, ING Bank and Raiffeisen Capital & Investment will broker the deal.

Alro reported net profit of 120.24 million lei (around EUR29 million) in the first quarter, more than double on the year.

Thursday, Alro closed up 1.04% at RON3.89 a share. (EUR1=RON4.1254)