English
• Petre Pavel Szel, the chairman of SAI Muntenia: "We didn"t set up the plot, but we grabbed the opportunity"
• Grigore Chiş, "Broker" Cluj: "We were always good at picking the winning side"
Even though he tried to arrange the elections for the management of the Sibiu Exchange down to the smallest detail, Cristian Sima, the head of "WBS România", saw his plans overturned by the last minute agreements made by the largest shareholders of the institution. After yesterday"s elections, Sima not only failed to get his own people on the board of Sibex, but he also lost his own seat on the board. The only members of the old board that were reelected are Anton Ionescu, the chairman of "Broker" Cluj, one of the most influential domestic brokerage firms, which also has a seat on the board of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, and Teodor Ancuţa, the chairman of Sibex. The newcomers are Cosmin Ivan (the head of HTI Valori Mobiliare) and two officials of the Financial Investment Companies (SIFs), Gabriel Filimon of SAI Muntenia Invest, and Dan Simionescu of SIF "Transilvania".
"That"s OK, I"ll keep going, perhaps we will summon a new General Shareholder Meeting, these are the votes I could get, I wish the new board the best of luck", Sima said bitterly.
About two weeks before the General Meeting of Shareholders, Cristian Sima, together with Alexandru Elian of Delta Valori Mobiliare, requested the revocation of the Board of Directors of Sibex and the appointment of new members, hoping they would succeed in getting their own people on the board and bring in a new CEO to replace Teodor Ancuţa.
Two of the candidates backed by Sima, Swiss banker Dario Colombo and Bogdan Baloşan, a shareholder of Sibex, were invalidated from the start by the attorneys of the Sibiu Exchange, who considered that the two were incompatible with running for the Board of Directors, the shareholders of Sibex said.
This is another painful lesson for Cristian Sima, after he failed to become chairman of the Bucharest Stock Exchange in the spring of 2010. At the time, the head of WBS had resigned from the Board of Directors of Sibiu to be able to run for the position of Chairman of the BSE.
• The FICs get two seats on the board of the Sibiu Exchange
Aside from "Broker" Cluj and the brokerage firm owned by Daniel Ţepeş, the great winners of yesterday"s election are the FICs, which most likely made all the difference in the outcome of the election, given the fact that they had 15% of the votes. Contacted by BURSA, Petre Pavel Szel, the chairman of SAI Muntenia, which manages SIF "Muntenia", said that the request of Cristian Sima to revoke the former board of directors of Sibex created an opportunity that the FICs were quick to seize.
"We were not involved in the plot, but we seized the opportunity to gain representation on the Board of the Exchange, which is something we failed to do with the BSE", said Mr. Szel, who added: "The other FICs backed us, we agreed to act in the same manner if a similar opportunity arose. We have invested in the Sibiu exchange and in its depository because we want to contribute to the development of the market. Perhaps we are going to see the Sibiu exchange working together with the Bucharest Exchange instead of being rivals".
Even though the statement made by Petre Szel could give the impression that the FICs would be in favor of a potential merger between the two exchanges, the chairman of SAI Muntenia is cautious: "This was the first step, we need to assess the situation, what made the dissidents unhappy; there is always room for improvement".
"Broker" Cluj and "HTI Valori Mobiliare" are the only brokerage firms that have a man on the board of the Sibiu Exchange and on that of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, thus having a major influence on the business decisions of the two institutions. The two brokerage firms also backed each other in the elections held in spring for the Board of Directors of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, when Ciprian Zah and Daniel Ţepeş managed to enter the board of directors of the BSE. The brokerage firm owned by Daniel Ţepeş also backed Zah in the elections for the board of directors of the Central Depository of Bucharest, even though he was eventually forced to withdraw his candidacy.
"We"ve always been good at picking the winning team", Grigore Chiş, the managing director of "Broker" Cluj said triumphantly.
Apart from Sima, out of the former board of directors, Cristian Lupuţi, the former head of "Nova Invest", was not reelected on the Board, and Marius Trif of "Carpatica Invest" did not run for a new term, realizing he would not be able to gain enough votes.
Other candidates were Bogdan Andrei Bărbieru (Tradeville) and Anca Bunea (member of the board of The Romanian Clearing House of Sibiu).
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