Romania

Romania is in its best shape, economically, for a decade. With the budget deficit under control and employment growing, the prospects look bright, argued Anca Dragu, Minister of Public Finance, at an event in Bucharest organised by the ministry and GlobalCapital. The government is striving to make the public finances more transparent, with granular details of spending and revenue published online, and is trying to simplify taxation and cut red tape. Risks include Brexit, domestic demand outstripping supply and bottlenecks slowing down the process of reform and investment.

Europe must take the wake-up call of the UK referendum seriously, argued Germany’s Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, at a high level meeting in Bucharest organised by the Romanian Ministry of Public Finance and GlobalCapital.

Romania is the economic growth star of Europe. Tax relief and VAT cuts have stimulated consumption and investment is strong. Wages are rising fast, but Romania remains competitive. With labour costs a fifth of the EU average, it should be — but that statistic shows how big a hill the country has to climb.

A strong start to the year for leveraged buyout deals has helped stoke banker confidence that 2017 could be another solid year for event-driven loans following healthy activity in 2016, even as refinancing business bottomed out.

Loan facilities backing Mid Europa Partners’ acquisition of Romanian retail chain Profi Rom Food will go into general syndication this month, with a fifth bank joining the bookrunners and tranche prices having been indicated to ‘early bird’ lenders.

Shares in MedLife, Romania’s largest private healthcare provider, gained 3% on Wednesday after it completed the first Romanian IPO since June 2014.

Four banks will lead the financing for the €533m acquisition of Romanian retail chain Profi, the largest private equity acquisition ever in Romania.

MedLife, a leading Romanian private healthcare provider, has announced plans for the first IPO on the Bucharest Stock Exchange since 2014, as it seeks to capitalise on higher disposable income in the EU’s fastest growing economy.

IBA — HSBC Dubai — Profi

Banks are preparing finance packages for the leveraged buyout of Romanian retail chain Profi, with the loans likely to price almost as tightly as deals from western Europes, according to one banker.

A flurry of follow-on equity sales this week, mostly block trades, showed that investors still want stock, sometimes at tight discounts, even while three IPOs had to be abandoned.

Eastern European telecoms operator RCS&RDS on Thursday printed a refinancing euro bond that was first planned in euros and Romanian leu, while it mulls a potential IPO.