AT THE "SIFS" Discussing the BCR issue, behind closed doors

• Nicolae Pascu, STK Financial: "No essential information has appeared that would make me to forgo my request that the SIFs summon the General Shareholder Meetings"

• The CNVM has asked the SIFs to stop making statements about the negotiations with Erste concerning BCR

A meeting behind closed doors took place yesterday, at the headquarters of SIF "Muntenia" of Bucharest, which was attended by the presidents of SIF "Moldova", "Banat-Crişana" and "Muntenia" and of the shareholders which have requested the summoning of General Shareholder Meetings at the Financial Investment Companies in order to take the necessary steps to take BCR public.

These shareholders include Radu Hanga, of BT Asset Management, Nicolae Pascu, the president of STK Financial, lawyer Cristian Duţescu, representing the "Firebird" funds, Bogdan Bilaus, of Raiffeisen Asset Management, Eugen Voicu and Horia Gustă of Certinvest, as well as officials of ING Investment Management. In the case of SIF "Oltenia" and "Transilvania", the meeting was attended by members of their management.

The meeting, which lasted about three hours, had the goal of convincing the shareholders of the SIFs that there was no need to summon a General Shareholder Meeting to initiate the procedure for the listing of BCR on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, as some of the SIFs claim that they are close to completing the negotiations with "Erste" for the sale of BCR, especially since the officials of Erste have said on Wednesday that they are negotiating with the SIFs the finding of an alternative solution to taking the bank public. The request of the shareholders that want the listing of BCR, as stipulated in the contract for the privatization of the bank, could, according to some, disturb the discussions between the SIFs and the officials of Erste, who recently said that Erste would do everything in its power to prevent the listing.

"We have tried to reach the best possible solution", said Ioan Cuzman, yesterday, during one of the breaks of the meeting of shareholders, without going into detail on what that would be. The president of SIF1 said he doesn"t want to provide further information on what was discussed in the meeting, since the CNVM has prohibited the SIFs from making statements on the negotiations with "Erste".

"I don"t like this secrecy either, it is in our interest to make this process more transparent, that is why we have met with the shareholders, especially considering that we received an invitation in this respect", the president of SIF1 said.

Petre Pavel Szel, the president of SAI Muntenia, refused to make any statement, invoking the restriction of the CNVM.

The shareholders of the SIFs weren"t willing to make any statements either, at the end of the meeting, even though they previously claimed that their request to summon the General Shareholder Meetings at the SIFs are precisely intended to provide transparency. Still the meeting was only known to some of the shareholders of the SIFs, as it was not announced in a communiqué.

Before entering the board room of SIF4, where the meeting was held, Radu Hanga, of BT Asset Management, said that the would not give up on his request for the General Shareholder Meeting to be summoned, because he did not want the listing of BCR to be postponed any longer. After the meeting, Mr. Hanga declined to make any further statements.

Nicolae Pascu the president of STK Financial, who manages STK emergent, listed on the BSE, said that no essential information was announced during the meeting, that would cause him to forgo his request that the SIFs summon the General Shareholder Meeting.

Lawyer Cristian Duţescu said he didn"t have a mandate from his clients, the "Firebird" funds, to forgo the request for the summoning of the General Shareholder Meeting at the SIFs.

"It remains to be seen whether some of the shareholders who requested the summoning of the General Shareholder Meetings will change their position and will forgo their request", one of the participants in the meeting said, and he added that it is yet unknown whether the SIFs will act on the requests to summon their respective General Shareholder Meetings.

"The 30 day period during which the SIFs are still within the 30 day period stipulated by the law in which they must make a decision concerning the summoning of the General Shareholder Meeting. I doubt that SIF Moldova will back down, after announcing it would summon the General Shareholder Meeting", the same sources said.

SIF "Moldova" is the first and for now, the only SIF to announce that it would hold a General Shareholder Meeting which would include on the agenda the launch of the procedures for the listing of BCR, as requested by some of the shareholders. However, the officials of SIF2 have said that they would summon the General Shareholder Meeting only if some of the shareholders change their stance, and go back on their request.

The meeting which was held yesterday at the headquarters of SIF4 continued after the departure of the shareholders, with just the officials of the SIFs.