Purcari Listing on the BVB

Purcari Wineries is a Moldova-based company which, in late 2017, decided to list on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) through an initial public offering (IPO). Although a well-established enterprise with renowned brands in the Republic of Moldova and market leader in Romania on the premium segment, the corporate media presence of the company was limited. As such, in order to attract enough investors to ensure the success of the IPO it was crucial to create high awareness for the company and its spokespersons, emphasizing their outstanding track record and professionalism, and to build a strong company profile that would generate confidence in its fundamentals and perspectives.  Our core target included as well institutional investors outside Romania (mainly UK and CEE). Moreover, IPO communication is very strictly regulated, which basically left us with about one month of full-speed communication and, to add to this already difficult context, the month was December. In addition to this, regulations state you cannot communicate anything that is not included or in accordance with the Offering Prospectus – a 300+ pages long document. 

As such, our strategy aimed at constructing a compelling story and we have placed at the core of our communication the CEO and founder of Purcari, the prototype of the impeccable professional turned into passionate entrepreneur which has overcome challenges ranging from bad agricultural years to ruthless politics leading to embargos, to tell the story of Purcari Wineries, the underdog that became leading regional player in just 4 years.

We have phased out our communication as follows:

1. Pre-IPO aggressive awareness campaign, aimed at generating as much positive awareness as possible in a very short period of time among the relevant target audience – investors. Thus, through a storytelling approach, we successfully brought Purcari on the front pages of top tier publications (Ziarul Financiar, Wall-Street, Business Magazin, Nine O’Clock), in less than a month. We also raised awareness among international press, briefing local correspondents of Bloomberg, Reuters and IntelliNews and regional correspondents of the Economist and Financial Times.
2. Maintaining high interest during restricted period: Since corporate communication is quasi impossible during a listing, in order to continue profiling Purcari, we opted to expand Purcari’s brand communication in Romania and, as such, throughout the IPO we kept the audience informed with regard to the company’s brands (such as new products in their offer).  
3. Listing Ceremony & post IPO comms: On February 15, Purcari shares started trading on BVB and we celebrated through an Opening Bell Ceremony, event which benefited from the presence of HE the Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova in Romania, Mihai Gribincea. All relevant business journalists were present; Bloomberg and IntelliNews had on the spot interviews with company representatives. Over 60 people (journalists, investors, analysts) attended the event.

The results were excellent: 200+ articles in national press, 7 articles in international press, 25+ journalists present at the event. The offer was 4 times oversubscribed on the retail tranche. Publications note that Purcari managed to raise some EUR 40 million in a period of turbulences on international capital markets. Further echoes of Purcari’s success include a piece in the Economist.