Finances

​ROMANIAN ALFA BANK SELLS VICTORIABANK SHARES TO EBRD

30 may, 2016

The Alfa Bank of Romania is selling its package of shares (12.5%) in the Moldova’s first private bank – Victoriabank – to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

According to sources, closely knowing the transaction conditions, the cost of one VB share with nominal value of 10 lei accounted for 90 lei. This is the highest market price for stakes of this issuer over the last several years. The maximum price reached 55 lei per one share.

After registration of this transaction, which is carried out at the informal market when the agreement between the shares’ seller and the buyer is fundamental, the EBRD’s package in Victoriabank will reach 27.56%.

The sources say that the EBRD succeeded in implementation of its earlier project on creating a new company, whose authorized capital will include shares of the Moldovan Victoriabank, after which it becomes the bank’s major shareholder.

“At the first stage of this project implementation, the EBRD faced an insurmountable obstacle, operatively created by Moldovan authorities, who prohibited to Moldovan banks’ shares to participate in authorized capital of newly-created companies”, the Infotag source said, reminding that it happened back in early 2015.

According to him, after the EBRD addressed to the Moldovan Government, the obstacle was overcome by means of this amendment’s exclusion from the Moldovan legislation.

“Now, the specially created company VB Investment Holding B.V. (the Netherlands) started to implement the project, aimed at increasing the package of Victoriabank shares which are directly connected to the EBRD that has funded this company”, said the interviewee, not excluding that other packages of shares [Galina Proidisvet – 13.81% and Victor Turcan – 10.45%] may also get to the VB Investment Holding B.V.

Infotag’s dossier: Besides small shareholders (physical and legal persons, who have not more than 9% VB shares), a major package remains in possession of Insidown LTD with registration in Ciprus. Its ultimate beneficiary is a Russian businessman, who received in early 2016 the NBM’s permission to hold a considerable stake in the bank. The three members, proposed by him for the Bank Board, have not submitted so far the documents to the NBM for getting the market regulator’s confirmation. Due to this, the Victoriabank still lacks a Board of Shareholders, as out of seven members, the NBM confirmation was given only to four of them. Experts say this suspension in the bank is connected to absence of a compromise between a group of shareholders, headed by the EBRD, on one hand, and the Insidown company – on the other hand. The shares, owned by the latter, is a blocking package, the fact that perhaps does not allow efficiently managing the bank due to different points of view on Victoriabank development.

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