Capital market financing in Romania will exceed 1.8 billion euros in 2021

By Jerom Bolt
The capital market was preferred this year for financing by both the Romanian state and private companies, given that a number of 27 companies listed government securities and corporate bonds worth 1.8 billion euros.
The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) had a very good 2021 year, the value of the main stock market index – BET registering an increase of over 33.2% this year. On the last trading day of 2021, BET reached 13,061.32 points, close to the all-time high.
“The year 2021 has been a very good one for the entire Romanian capital market. New companies have come to the stock market in areas with great development potentials, such as agriculture, software development, engineering and automation, construction, retail and transport. The stock exchange was the financing choice for both the Romanian state and 27 companies that listed government securities and corporate bonds worth 1.8 billion euros. “I believe that this is just the beginning for a healthy economy, namely the existence of a strong capital market,” he said. , for Agerpres, Radu Hanga, president of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
According to BVB data submitted at the request of Agerpres, in 2021 a number of 27 companies listed 33 corporate bond issues on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Corporate bonds amount to 942.5 million euros, and the 12 issues of FIDELIS government bonds 875.7 million euros. Also, 23 companies chose to list on the Main Market or AeRO, of which three on the Main Market and 20 on the AeRO market. The financing that the 23 companies attracted before the listing amount to 234.8 million euros. Moreover, in 2021 the first green bonds on the Stock Exchange were listed, as well as the first corporate bonds correlated with sustainability objectives.
At the end of 2021, five companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange have included in the FTSE Global All Cap indices: Banca Transilvania, Nuclearelectrica, OMV Petrom, TeraPlast and One United Properties, and two companies were present in the FTSE Global Micro Cap – Bittnet Group indices and Transport Trade Services. The capitalization of all companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, on both markets, increased by 58% from September 2020, prior to the effective promotion to the status of Emerging Market, until now (from 150.4 billion lei to 237.8 billion lei).
Also, at the end of this year, the Bucharest Stock Exchange registers liquidity of the Main Market of 10.8 billion lei, a lower level than in 2020, respectively 12.2 billion lei. However, the positive evolution of this capital is registered on the AeRO market, whose liquidity increased in 2021 by 253% compared to last year, up to the value of 1.2 billion lei.
More and more Romanians have chosen to invest on the stock exchange this year, both directly through a broker and indirectly, through a mutual fund. For example, from September 2019 to September 2021, the number of retail investors increased by 35% to over 74,000 accounts. An increase is registered in the same period in the case of mutual funds, of 27%, up to 524,907 investors.
“I think we are starting to see the real potential of the market. I think that the Romanian stock market is now registering a new take-off, it is starting to develop and fulfill its goal better and better, that of helping local companies to finance themselves. we have had more listings than in the last 6 years cumulatively. That is, in the last 6 years there have been 18 listings of some companies, and the number of bonds in this period has been quite low. In the first 9 months of this year we already have 19 listed companies, to which are added 22 corporate bond issues “, Radu Hanga declared in an interview for Agerpres in October.
He explained that all projects need time to reach maturity, and now we are in a context where several elements help us.
For the future, the Bucharest Stock Exchange has big plans, including consolidating its presence in the FTSE Russell indices, but also paying attention to the next step, the promotion by MSCI to the status of an emerging market.
Another important goal for BVB is the Central Counterparty project. According to Adrian Tănase, general manager of BVB, the Central Counterparty could become operational in the middle of next year, and then we could have functional derivatives markets.