The Central Depository, scheduled to move its offices in the BSE building in two months

• Market sources claim that the Depository pays a rent of 25,000 Euros at their current headquarters

In yesterday"s general shareholder meeting, the shareholders of the Central Depository have decided to relocate the offices of the company, two months from now, in the same building where the other companies of the BSE group operate now, including the Bucharest Stock Exchange, the Investor Compensation Fund and the Bucharest Clearing House.

The relocation of the Central Depository and the strengthening of the control over the companies of the BSE group are part of a plan that the management of the exchange drew some time ago, after some brokerage firms warned several times that the Depository seemed to be becoming rebellious and looking to follow a different road than the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Since it owns 66% of the stock, it wasn"t even that hard yesterday for the Bucharest Stock Exchange to impose its will on the Board of Directors of the Depository.

"We are looking for a tighter cooperation across the whole BSE group, a better coordination of the operations of the companies within the group, as well as a joint purchasing policy and a better management of the available resources", said for BURSA, Valentin Ionescu, the managing director of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, who also serves as the president of the Central Depository.

Aside from a tighter control of the Depository, the management of the BSE is hoping that the move of the headquarters of the institution will help reduce the rent paid by the companies of the Group. The depository would occupy two floors of the building that the Bucharest Stock Exchange is located in now, across the street from the Armenian Church.

"Until now, the Depository paid a monthly rent of 25,000 Euros, whereas, after the relocation, it would pay 8.8 Euros/square meter, and would occupy 1,100 square meters", market sources that wished to remain anonymous said. The same sources have also said that Ioan Catona, the owner of the building that the Depository currently resides in and whose company "SITI" is also a shareholder of the Depository, tried to convince the managers of the Depository to stay, and offered them a lower rent.

"It"s true that we got several counteroffers which were less than what the Central Depository used to pay until now, but we have decided to relocate the institution near the BSE", market sources said.

The decision of the management of the BSE to oversee more closely the activity of the companies in the group comes as the old Board of Directors of the Depository voted last autumn, to perform settlement for stock trades performed on the OTC market, after months during which the project of the OTC market had been put on hold. The move of the former managers of the Central Depository angered the management of the BSE, which was worried that part of the transactions on the regulated market could move to the OTC market.

The Central Depository is one of the most profitable companies of the BSE group. Last year its Q3 profit of 3 million lei surpassed that of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (1.79 million lei).

In the first nine months of 2010, the Central Depository had total revenues of 16.26 million lei, 28.95% higher than the budgeted figures. At the same time, the total expenses of the company decreased over 13% compared to the initial estimates, to 9.84 million lei. After the first nine months of 2010, the company had a net profit of 5.38 million lei, up 436% compared to the budgeted profit.