The embarrassing suspension of trading in Oltchim

The Bucharest Stock Exchange finally deigned to suspend trading in the shares of Oltchim, but only did so Friday morning. By then some investors had already speculated the information about the European Commission having approved the conversion of the plant's debt of 135 million Euros towards the AVAS into stock.

Our newspaper itself published the news on Thursday morning, and the European Commission officially confirmed it at noon, after we also received unofficial confirmation from two Romanian state institutions that the piece of news was authentic.

Friday morning's suspension makes you cringe, it almost makes you feel embarrassed to broach the subject; suspending trading in a stock is not a common measure, and it is not a mere formality, just to abide by one rule, it is a radical action, which is intended to promote the fair operation of the markets.

The decision of suspending trading in a stock is a thorny matter, because it disrupts the flow of the market and is therefore only implemented in extreme cases, just like in this particular case, when an information which was important for the fate of Oltchim, was only known to some investors, rather than to the entire market.

Therefore, the suspension in trading should have occurred on Thursday morning, or by noon at the latest.

Suspending trading on Friday morning, after the BURSA newspaper expressed its amazement at the fact that it had not already happened, was perfectly pointless.

Friday's suspension was of no use to anybody and served no purpose.

Meanwhile, investors had already found out about the approval of the Commission, from other press sources.

Suspending trading in Oltchim, long after it all transpired, is like locking the barn after the horse was stolen: it makes the BSE look far more ridiculous than the fact that it did not suspend trading when it should have, one day earlier.

I'm not going to say anything, I am disappointed and distressed.