The initial public offering of Transgaz Medias, the largest of its kind ever witnessed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, could attract more than 10,000 investors, believes Steven van Groningen, chairman of Raiffeisen Bank, which will take charge of subscription during the IPO.

This level is equal to the average number of active investor accounts that bought something on the Bucharest Stock Exchange over the last few months, according to BSE statistics. A little more than 5,000 investors subscribed during Transelectrica's IPO last summer.

Transgaz's offering, which is worth about 65 million euros, is the largest of its kind conducted on the capital market so far. It comes at a time when the Stock Exchange witnessed one of the most severe corrections of the last few years within the past few months, while international markets continue to be dominated by uncertainties related to the financial crisis in the US.

The representatives of Raiffeisen Capital & Investment (RCI), the brokerage firm that prepared the offering, however, are confident of a successful conclusion, and are relying in part on the introduction of allotment rights for the first time, which will allow investors to capitalise on their investments sooner than in previous public offerings.

"The Transgaz public offering will use allotment rights for the first time in Romania, with trading set to begin approximately three days from clearing. This way, investors will no longer have their money stuck for two months, and will be able to sell their investment as early as this year. We anticipate the trading of the allotment rights will start around December 19, 2007," stated Mirela Ionescu, RCI's general manager.

The allotment rights will be converted into shares when the capital increase is registered with the Central Depository, which will most likely happen in February, RCI's head