STORIES WITH CENTAURS AND OTHER MYTHICAL CREATURES Cătălin Chelu has sold 9.98% of VES Sighişoara

• Shares of VESY experienced wild swings of ±15%, without the support of any news concerning the company

The stock of VES Sighişoara had a surprising evolution over the past two weeks, with prices experiencing swings of plus/minus 15% for several days in a row, without any news about the company"s development plans that would have justified such swings being published on the website of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

However, some people speak of a struggle between businessman Cătălin Chelu and Alexandru Farcaş, the president of the Board of Directors, to seize control of the company.

The only reports concerning the company which the BSE published lately, are those that show major changes in the shareholder structure of VES Sighişoara, sometimes from one day to the next.

GM Invest, the brokerage firm which is traditionally considered as being owned by Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu, caused most of the commotion around the stock, in trying to collect as big a stake as possible, for a mysterious buyer. The price bid up by GM Invest made those who held "leftovers" of VESY stock in their portfolios very grateful, and they very happy to get rid of them.

"They gave me more than 20% over the price that I paid for them, and so I was more than happy to get rid of them. What they do with those shares from now on is not my problem", said one of the small shareholders who quickly made his exit from VES, without waiting for any ulterior rise of the price.

After collecting about 22%, GM Invest liquidated that block on May 17th.

The trade was concluded on the Deal section of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, at a price that was 13.05% higher than that of the previous session.

The next day, a company of Galaţi, controlled by Cătălin Chelu, reported holding a stake of 22.9% in VESY.

(GM Invest seems to have acted in a similar manner in the case of Electroargeş Curtea de Argeş, where the brokerage increased its stake and then liquidated it. A few days later, two companies of Galaţi, in which Cătălin Chelu was a shareholder , became shareholders of ELGS. The business connections between GM Invest and Cătălin Chelu, if they are indeed real, remain a mystery for now, especially since GM Invest is wary of making statements in the media concerning its investment policy).

Aside from the brokerage firm of GM Invest and from Cătălin Chelu, another buyer of VESY shares stands out during the period in question - Alexandru Farcaş, the chairman of the Board of Directors, who, at the end of April, held about 28% of VESY, through Chimsport Orăştie. Farcaş has increased his stake, by buying about 20 million shares, again through Chimsport.

In 2010, Alexandru Farcaş held the position of chairman of the Board of Directors in Chimica Orăştie, where the Association of Employees was reported as having a stake of 63.35%. At the time, Chimsport had a stake of 99.9% of the shares of Chimica Orăştie.

Among those who made their exit from the shareholder structure of VESY, over the last two weeks, we find WBS România, the brokerage firm owned by Cristian Sima, who at one time served as chairman of the company, as well as some of the executives of Ves Sighişoara, who according to some sources, have opposed the proposals of Cristian Sima to increase the share capital of VESY, for fear of seeing their stakes diluted.

According to the reports, WBS held 5% of Ves Sighişoara in March 2008, which was later increased to 9%, and it made its exit on May 12th, shortly after the elections for the presidency of the Sibiu Exchange, when Cristian Sima was elected as president.

Some malicious rumormongers are trying to connect the transactions of VESY with the so-called negotiations for the elections of Sibex, which resulted in Sima becoming the president of the latter, but we do not have any evidence to support this scenario.

The increased interest in the shares of VESY, of these past two weeks, is surprising even as at the end of November 2009, 33 of the shareholders of the company have put up for sale, through a public offer, about 42% of the share capital of the company, at the initial price of 0.22 lei/share.

The price later fell to 0.15 lei, due to the absence of buyers, since the asking price was a few times higher than the market price.

The offer failed, with not one share being sold.

After buying 22.9% of Ves Sighişoara, Debrocons Galaţi, held by Cătălin Chelu announced, after just two days, that it reduced its stake to 16.6%, together with Goras Consulting SA, with which it was acting in concert.

The mysterious investor has not yet been reported for now, but some brokers expect him to be part of the business entourage of Cătălin Chelu.

Who could be this Prometheus?...