Hidroelectrica intends to form a new Supervisory Board so that Romania can meet the corporate governance requirements set by the European Commission, and the government has a number of special requirements for the new supervisory bodies, economica.net reported.
The Romanian Ministry of Energy, which acts as the majority shareholder of the company on behalf of the state, has already published a “letter of expectations in the process of selecting the members of the Supervisory Board of the hydropower company Hidroelectrica.
This message “establishes the expected performance of the administrative and management bodies of the Company for the remaining period until the end of the term of office of the current Board of Directors, namely until 28.03.2027, in accordance with the selection procedure previously carried out”.
One of the performance criteria established in this letter of expectations is the entry of Hidroelectrica on the Moldovan market. “Development of internal M&A opportunities and active participation in acquisition opportunities for new power generation projects/capacities, mainly from renewable sources, including at the regional level (and especially in the Republic of Moldova).
Active participation in building a supply portfolio, including at the regional level,” the letter says.
Hidroelectrica has tried to acquire large enterprises before, but failed each time. The only notable example was the acquisition of the 108MW Crucea wind farm from STEAG. Five years ago, a Romanian consortium formed by Hidroelectrica, Electrica and SAPE lost a bid for assets that the Czechs from CEZ had put up for sale in Romania, which eventually went to the Australians from Macquarie.
In the fall of 2022, Hidro-electrica announced that it would submit an offer for the CEZ Vânzare supplier put up for sale by Macquarie, but ultimately failed to do so, citing legislative instability in the energy market.
Moldovan analysts do not rule out that the company may try to participate in the privatization of Moldovan energy networks FEE Nord and RED Nord.
The idea was initiated last year by Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who complained that his country produces more electricity than it consumes without having storage parks to store the excess electricity.
“If we expand and maybe buy RED-Nord grids from Moldova, then the system will balance,” the then Romanian prime minister said.
Ciolacu’s wish was immediately eagerly responded to by officials in Chisinau. Then Energy Minister Victor Parlicov said, “We welcome Romania’s interest. Earlier we stated that the government is looking for strategic investors to privatize two energy sector enterprises. Romania is an EU country. Before becoming an EU member state, Moldova aims to become part of the EU energy market by 2029 by merging the energy markets of Romania and Moldova”.
Hidroelectrica forecasts electricity production of 13.3 TWh this year, down from last year’s 13.9 TWh due to a lower share of hydropower.
