"Almost everything that was for sale was bought," a broker said as comment on the big transactions conducted on the Stock Exchange in 2007. His statement, although exaggerated on purpose, sums up best the moves that took place this year. The first year after the accession to the EU stirred things up and made players, be they strategic investors or investment funds try and grab a "share" of the market segments considered to have the highest growth potential.
From the only sweets maker listed on the BSE to the most important insurance companies on this market, all of them have found a buyer during the year. Most transactions were carried with construction companies' shares, which is hardly surprising, brokers say, considering the constructions sector witnessed the highest growth pace in 2007, which is expected to maintain for the next few years.
The shareholders of construction companies, after all, noticed the high interest of investors in this market segment and put up for sale some of the stakes they held, opening the market for such shares.
The biggest transaction of 2007 with shares of a listed company did not involve a player in the constructions sector but one of the main sweets producers on the domestic market, Kandia-Excelent Bucuresti.
In a surprise deal, Cadbury Schweppes group, Europe's largest sweets maker, took over 93.2% of Kandia-Excelent at the beginning of June, paying almost 100 million euros. The sellers were investment fund Axis Investments Limited, which held 84.1% and Meinl Bank, which held 9.1%. The deal was concluded at a 2.9 RON price, about 15% lower than the closing price in the day before the deal.
The cumulated value of the next two biggest transactions, the takeovers of Asirom and Ardaf, exceeded the value of the Kandia-Excelent deal only by a little. The deals whereby the controlling interests in two insuran
