Shareholders of "Altur" complaining about Cătălin Chelu

• They claim that they are losing money due to the deals with shares in "Argus" Constanţa made by the companies owned by businessman Cătălin Chelu

The sale by "Altur" Slatina a company indirectly controlled by businessman Cătălin Chelu of 603,400 shares of "Argus" Constanţa (symbol: UARG) at a price of 3 lei/share, after having previously bought shares of the same company at prices ranging between 3.49 lei and 5.46 lei, has caused the discontent of some of the shareholders of Altur.

Shareholders are concerned that "Altur" will incur losses following these deals and will get nothing out of the investment in that company. Shareholders also claim that most likely, the one who stands to gain the most out of these trades is Cătălin Chelu, who appears as the main shareholder of the two companies who are reported to have bought a number of shares of UARG equal to the one sold by "Altur".

"Galgros" Galaţi (GALV), in which Cătălin Chelu holds 48.7%, was reported as having bought 370,000 shares of UARG, at a price of 3 lei/share, on July 27th. "Favil" Râmnicu Vâlcea (FAVL), of which the businessman of Galaţi holds 66.3%, according to the latest reports, was reported as having bought 233,400 shares of UARG, also on July 27th. The date of the two deals coincides with the date when "Altur" Slatina reported the sale of the 603,400 shares of UARG, again at the price of 3 lei/share. However, there is no clear proof that the two companies controlled by Chelu have bought the shares sold by "Altur", given the fact that the trades were made on the Regular market. The aforementioned information has alarmed some of the shareholders of "Altur": "These kinds of deals are causing me to lose money, as a shareholder of Altur Slatina, because the company will most likely post losses. These are merely petty financial machinations ... It makes no sense for Altur to sell shares of UARG now, at a price of 3 lei/share, after paying as much as 5.46 lei share a few days ago. One can"t say for sure that through these trades Chelu is selling shares of UARG to himself, because the deals were made in the regular market, but it can be assumed that is the case", a shareholder of "Altur" said.

Contacted by BURSA, Cătălin Chelu said that he had no knowledge about these trades and that he was unable to make a comment: "I don"t know what trades you are talking about, I don"t know what statement to make".

The trades that the aforementioned minority shareholder is referring to took place on July 18th and 20th, when Altur" was reported as having bought 500,000 shares of UARG, at a price of 3.49 lei/share and respectively, of having bought 300,000 shares of "Argus" at a price of 5.46 lei/share.

"Altur" Slatina is owned by "Mecanica Roteş", which holds 28.15% of the shares, and by "Celule Electrice" Băileşti, which holds 14.81%.

The latter is controlled by Cătălin Chelu, who, according to the latest information from the Bucharest Stock Exchange owns 49.7% of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.