The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) has reported a hike in the number of investors and in trading values and volumes following the IPO of energy company Hidroelectrica (H2O) in June-July. 

Hydropower company Hidroelectrica carried out the largest ever IPO on the Bucharest exchange, raising RON9.28bn (€1.9bn) through the sale of 89.7mn shares, as a 19.94% stake in the company was put up for sale. 

Hidroelectrica's IPO was the biggest in Europe so far this year, and the third largest IPO globally. 

In a statement on August 23, the BVB said there has been a sharp increase in the number of investors on the Romanian capital market, which surged to nearly 160,000 by the end of the first half of 2023. This is an increase of 200% compared to the approximately 54,000 investors in 2019. 

The BET-TR index, which also includes dividends, grew by 17.5% in the first seven months of this year. At the end of the trading session on July 31, BET-TR was at 26,647 points, and the all-time high since the index was created 11 years ago was recorded on July 20 of 26,765 points.

“The capital market in Romania is going through one of the best periods in history and we believe that recent developments confirm that the market is developing in the right direction,” said Radu Hanga, BVB president. 

“The Hidroelectrica phenomenon brought dozens of thousands of Romanians closer to the stock market and demonstrated that Romanians have an appetite for investment, which is encouraging for Romanian companies to get listed on the local stock exchange.”

“Hidroelectrica’s IPO achieved a performance that was difficult for analysts to predict: it moved 2% of the total types of deposits, expressed in all types of currencies, that the population held in banks after the total subscriptions on the retail tranche reached RON6.3bn,” said BVB CEO Adrian Tanase. 

“We believe Hidroelectrica is the best testimonial to persuade more and more entrepreneurs to start or resume the listing process because the market has shown that it has an appetite for investments in solid businesses. Romania has become an attractive centre for both local and international capital flows as the degree of market development has increased.”

According to Tanase, following the Hidroelectrica IPO, Romania is now the third capital market in the region in terms of capitalisation, and is expected to become the third in terms of liquidity in the medium term.

Taking Hidroelectrica into account, listings totalled €4.4bn in the first seven months of the year, surpassing the previous record of €4bn for the whole of 2021. 

The equity segment on the regulated market reached an all-time high for total trading value, including offers, standing at RON16.4bn, topping the RON13.8bn record set in 2007.