Tensions among the five SIFs (financial investment companies), holding over 30% in the BCR - the largest bank in the system, and Austrian group Erste, the bank's majority shareholder, have intensified in the past few months, considering that 2011 is expected to be another year without dividend payments and Erste officials have implied they are not willing to list the BCR on the Stock Exchange very soon.
Listing of the BCR on the Bucharest Stock Exchange within three years from privatisation, as well as payment of a dividend corresponding to at least 40% of the profit, calculated in line with international accounting standards, are the commitments that Austrian group Erste took in 2006 when it acquired 61.8% in BCR. Although mandatory, at Erste's request made in 2009, the SIFs agreed to put off listing preparations for another two years, until October 2011, and last year approved the capitalisation of the profit to avoid taking part in a 100 million-euro capital increase.
However, recently the bank's chief executive, Dominic Bruynseels, said BCR's listing depended on stock exchange liquidity: "It is not a question of time, but one of size. Liquidity still needs to significantly improve in order to highlight the value of the BCR." The Erste Group owns 69.3% of BCR's capital through an Austrian holding it controls.
Tensions among the five SIFs (financial investment companies), holding over 30% in the BCR - the largest bank in the system, and Austrian group Erste, the bank's majority shareholder, have intensified in the past few months, considering that 2011 is expected to be another year without dividend payments and Erste officials have implied they are not willing to list the BCR on the Stock Exchange very soon.
Listing of the BCR on the Bucharest Stock Exchange within three years from privatisation, as well as payment