Brokers want to reduce the share capital of the Bucharest Stock Exchange by nine million Euros

• The Board of the BSE is preparing to summon the General Shareholder meeting

Several shareholders of the BSE, as well as several members of the Board of Directors of the institution, want to propose a reduction of the company"s share capital by about nine million Euros, which would then be distributed to shareholders. The proposal is very likely to be discussed at the following General Shareholder Meeting of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, and most brokers are in favor of the proposal, as they could use some additional cash in a time when they can hardly survive from the fees they earn off the trading on the BSE. Sources from the management of the BSE expect the General Shareholder Meeting to be held by the end of the month.

Mircea Botta, the vice-president of the BSE, said for "BURSA": "I am aware that there have been several requests to reduce the share capital of the BSE, but they are scattered, and are coming from directions.

I expect that this idea has the backing of those who hold more than 10% in the BSE, which would allow them to request that the Board of Directors put the share capital reduction on the agenda of the next General Shareholder Assembly. The BSE has about 16 million Euros in cash, if it were to reduce its share capital by nine million Euros, it would still have enough left for development.

Those who support this idea want to determine the BSE to become profitable through its main line of business, instead of living off the interest accumulating on its bank accounts. The shareholders who oppose the idea claim that this would undercapitalize the company and would affect its image".

The reduction of the share capital of the BSE was discussed during the last General Shareholder Meeting of the Exchange, leading to heated debates, but the shareholders did not reach a final decision. Sources from the market claim that the proposal was discussed by the Board of Directors of the Exchange, but the way the cash resulting from the share capital reduction would be distributed among shareholders has not yet been discussed.

Contacted by BURSA, Octavian Molnar, member on the board of the BSE, said he is not aware of any such proposal to reduce the BSE"s share capital made by its shareholders.

• Talks about finding a new headquarters for the BSE are at an advanced stage

The Board of the Bucharest Stock Exchange is getting ready to summon a General Shareholder Meeting to move the headquarters of the BSE to a new location, close to the Palace of the Parliament. The management of the BSE has been planning for a long time to move all the companies of the BSE group to a common headquarters in order to cut costs.

Mircea Botta added: "Next Tuesday we will have another meeting of the Board of Directors, and then we will probably summon the General Shareholder Meeting, the agenda of which will include the relocation of the headquarters of the BSE. Personally, I think that this move of the headquarters of the BSE and of the other companies in the group needs to be well thought out, to make sure we don"t actually end up increasing our costs, instead of reducing them. This move could end up delaying some of the projects that the employees of the BSE are working on", Mircea Botta said.

The BSE, the Clearing House and the Investor Compensation Fund share the same headquarters, whereas the Central Depository has its own headquarters.