SIF Moldova Signs To Postpone BCR Listing

SIF Moldova, a minority shareholder in Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) on 1 September signed an agreement to postpone the listing of the bank on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) after having finalized negotiations regarding the postponement of the deadline for the contractual obligation of the majority shareholder, Erste Bank Group, to initiate the listing, the firm announced yesterday.

The representatives of the other financial investment firms (SIFs) holding minority stakes in BCR could not be contacted yesterday to state whether they had also signed such agreements. However, they had previously expressed their verbal agreement to having the bank listed in the following two years, after several rounds of talks with Erste.

The five financial investment firms hold an aggregated 30% in Banca Comerciala Romana. The matter of postponing the listing was left on their table after State Assets Recovery Authority (AVAS) President Mircea Ursache gave a go-ahead of principle to postponing the listing of BCR on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) for 2010-2011, depending on market conditions.

"Listing BCR is a matter to be dealt with between Erste Bank and the SIFs, but, because the privatisation contract stipulates the obligation to list BCR on the Stock Exchange, our agreement was also necessary for postponing the deadline. However, the is the shareholders" to make," Ursache stated in end-June. He added that the contract stipulated no penalty for delaying the listing.

BCR Executive President Dominic Bruynseels in mid-May stated that listing the bank at that time was ill-timed, considering market conditions. The original plan was to list BCR on the Bucharest Stock Exchange within three years after privatization, that is, by end-2009.