National company purchases shares in SA Stigma

The national company Elat-Invest acquired the 71.6% state holding in SA Sigma, Info-Prim Neo’s correspondent at the fourth auction to sell state-owned shares organized by the Public Property Agency of the Ministry of Economy and Trade reported. The holding was purchased on the first auction day for the initial selling price of 30.01 lei a share. The transaction totaled 81.5 million lei. No other companies offered to buy the holding. The auctions will continue until the end of this week. On the first auction day, there were sold 98% of shares in SA Farm-Com based in Comprat town, 14.2% of shares in the Taraclia Butter Factory, 5.9% of shares in SA Noroc located in Mandresti village in Telenesti district, and 1.04% of shares in the Sangerei wine factory. All the holdings were sold at the initial price, except the shares in SA Noroc, which processes grapes and produces alcoholic beverages. Two economic entities bid for the 5.9% holding in the company. The selling price of a share trebled during the auction, to 3.16 lei, as against the initial price of 1 leu a share. No details about the new owners of the shares were made available. Holdings in five joint stock companies out of the 28 put up for sale were sold on the first auction day for 84.17 million lei overall. The 59.4% state holding in SA Floare - Carpet worth 101.4 million lei remained unsold. Brokers of the Moldova Stock Exchange say that this holding could be in demand the next days. The company’s representative Vladimir Livadaru, consultant to the director general of SA Floare-Carpet, said that he is glad in a way that the holding was not purchased. “Floare- Carpet has worked successfully for 30 years. We coped with all the difficulties related to the changeover to a market economy. The company pays all the taxes to the state budget and the state social insurance budget, the electricity bills. It is not known who will purchase the shares and if the new owner will keep the type of activity of the company whose products are well-known and the people that work at Floare- Carpet,” Livadaru said. Asked if the carpet factory has a better option than privatization, Vladimir Livadaru said that the employees do not have the resources needed to purchase the shares. He voiced hope that the investor that will purchase the major holding will preserve the company’s brand and will take into account the wishes of the people that promoted it until privatization.