The shares of Safetech Innovations (BVB: SAFE), a Romanian cybersecurity company with presence in Bucharest, London, and Abu Dhabi, will debut on the Main Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange on February 6th, 2023. The final trading day for SAFE shares on the AeRO market will be February 1st, with the last trades on this market being settled on February 3rd.
“We are thrilled that exactly two years after our listing on the AeRO market, we will be marking our debut on the Main Market, thus opening our company to new investors and opportunities. In 2021, SAFE shares were the most traded financial instruments on the AeRO market, and in 2022, we were the second most traded company. Therefore, the transfer to the Main Market is a natural step in our evolution, and it will help us develop our company even further, offering increased visibility and recognition and an even easier access to capital. We are now ready for the next level, to bring next to us new retail investors as well institutional investors and to continue applying the best corporate governance and investor relations practices,” stated Victor Gansac, CEO of Safetech Innovations.
Safetech Innovations debuted on the AeRO market on January 29th, 2021. In its history, Safetech Innovations raised 13.1 million lei from BVB investors in two capital raises – a private placement ahead of the debut in October 2020, when the company raised 2.5 million lei from individual investors, and a share capital increase that ran between December 2021 and January 2022. During the latter, the company raised 10.6 million lei for international expansion in the UK and the USA.
Since the private placement in October 2020, the value of the company has increased by 1,628%, going from a valuation of 12.5 million lei to a market capitalization of 216.1 million lei as of January 26th, 2022, at the market closing. Apart from price appreciation, Safetech Innovations have also rewarded shareholders with annual dividends, distributed under a hybrid model that included both the cash component as well as free shares.
Safetech Innovations has over 3.300 shareholders and it is owned in a proportion of 36.8% by Victor Gansac, co-founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO, and 36.7% by Paul Rusu, co-founder and CFO. The remaining of 26.5% is free-float, representing BVB investors. At the company level, there is a Stock Option Plan (SOP) in which Safetech employees and members of the company’s management bodies can be beneficiaries. The company’s founders are not and they will not be part of the SOP. To date, the company has concluded option contracts under the SOP program for a total number of 316,600 shares, all these shares being bought back from the market.
In the process of the transfer to the Main Market of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Safetech Innovations was assisted by Cornerstone Communications in the capacity of an advisor, Alpha Bank – as an intermediary and Baker Tilly Romania – as an auditor.