Soldanesti tobacco processing factory put into private hands

On the first day of privatization actions held at the Moldova Stock Exchange Tuesday through Friday, the government sold 91.2% shares in the Soldanesti tobacco processing factory. This is one of the 38 sets of stocks that the government plans to sell in this privatization round. The 603,213 shares in the Soldanesti factory were sold for the initial price of 0.5 lei apiece, or 301,600 lei in total. Also on Tuesday, bidders bought packages of slightly above or slightly under 1% in four other companies. The proceeds of the first day of auctions constitute about 484,000 lei. Previous experience shows that the largest purchases are made on the first day. The 2012 State Budget projects proceeds from privatizations to stand at 260 million lei. Before this round of privatizations, 110 million lei was already collected. Public Property Agency head Tudor Copaci anchors his hopes also in the ongoing investment and commercial tenders, bids for which are expected until December 6. Among the highlights of this year's last privatization round is the government-owned package in the Chisinau Glass Factory, where the government spent large amounts on renovation, and which comes with a price tag of 400 million lei. Overall, the stocks put up for privatization in this round are priced at 1.3 billion lei.