IT"S BEEN TWO YEARS NOW THAT SHAREHOLDERS OF COCOR TURISM CAN"T FLY AWAY Captive minority shareholders

• "If the shareholders want to exert their rights, they should go to court!", the company"s lawyer says

Several minority shareholders of "Cocor Turism" Sinaia GALA) have been waiting for almost two years to make their exit from the company, just like SIF "Transilvania" did, who in 2009 received the right to exit in exchange of paying 2.26 lei for each of the two million shares it held in the hotel company.

The decision to grant SIF3 the right to make its exit was made in the General Shareholder Meeting of August 2009, as the shareholders of the company approved its merger with "Cocor Estival" and "Ovidiu Estival 2002".

The shareholders that did not agree with the merger were given at the time, the right of making their exit from the company, but the decision of the General Shareholder Meeting only mentions an exit price for SIF "Transilvania", and stipulates that the exit price for any other shareholder would be determined by and independent expert, appointed by the delegated judge of the Trade Registry. In order to keep the impression of fairness, the decision of the General Shareholder Meeting says that the price which will have to be paid to other shareholders looking to make their exit will not be lower than the price which has already been set for the exit rights of SIF3.

The minority shareholders of the company are unhappy that they did not receive the same rights as SIF "Transilvania", even though it will soon be two years since they were granted the right to make their exit.

"I have filed the request to withdraw the money immediately after the General Shareholder Meeting, because I realized that the decision was made in such a way as to tergiversate the granting of the withdrawal rights to the other shareholders", one of the angry minority shareholders told us, and he added: "I asked for the same price that SIF Transilvania, received, so there would be no need for an expert ... If they got their money, I don"t see why I shouldn"t get mine as well... The shares that I own should generate the same rights as theirs".

Contacted by BURSA, lawyer Mihai Duţu, the representative of "Cocor Turism", denied that there is any discrimination between the minority shareholders trying to exit the company and SIF "Transilvania", and claimed that the former actually have an advantage over the latter.

"On the contrary, the people who submitted the request to make their exit and are awaiting an answer are not being discriminated. I would even say that they have an advantage", Duţu said, without explaining what it might be. He advised the shareholder who can"t wait any longer to go to court.

"For more than a year, the company filed with the Trade Registry a request to appoint an expert that would appraise the company and would determine the exit price for shareholders who wish to do so. If shareholders want to get money for their shares, they should go to court! We know the amount that they want... it"s a pittance ... I don"t think the public is particularly interested in this situation", lawyer Mihai Duţu said.

The situation of "Cocor Turism" was also mentioned last year by the Association of Capital Market Investors (AIPC), which, after reading the report of "Cocor Turism" for the year 2009, was "stupefied" to find out that the company bought back shares from other minority shareholders, apart from SIF3.

The representatives of the AIPC warned at the time that minority shareholders had been discriminated, and that among other things, the law of companies was broken, which states that "shares need to have an equal value, granting their owners equal rights".

At the request of the capital market watchdog, who requested explanations on the status of the payment of the cash equivalent of the shares owned by one minority shareholder, the management of "Cocor Turism" explained, at the end of 2009, that the actions in this matter take a long time, because several legal steps must be followed until the appointment of an evaluator.

At the time, the management said that buying back the stock of minority shareholders depended on the company"s cash reserves.

"Cocor Turism" posted losses of over five million lei, for each of the last three years, and has also budgeted losses for 2010, but it expected them to fall to about 1.7 million lei.

"Perhaps they do not have money, and that is why they refuse to buy our shares, even though they claim that this is a derisory amount", said one of the unhappy minority shareholders, who stressed however that the losses of the company didn"t seem to matter when other minority shareholders got their money.

"Cocor" Bucureşti owns 69% of "Cocor Turism". According to information on the website of the Exchange, SIF Transilvania is still listed as being a shareholder, with a 26% stake. The report of 2010 mentions the amount of 5,157,844.7 lei paid for the buyback of its own shares from SIF3 Transilvania and other shareholders.

However, this amount is in the process of being registered with the Trade Registry and Regisco, and will be booked on the date of its registration.