Businesspeople covet a place on SIF1’s Board

On 24 April, shareholders of one of the most sought after assets on the Romanian market will choose, from among a total of 16 candidates, the individuals who will receive the 7 four-year mandates to manage SIF1.

The list of candidates also includes current members of the Board - Ioan Cuzman (Chairman), Emil Cazan (Vice Chairman), Pavel Belean, Zoltan Hosszu, Ioan Mos, Ionut Patrahau, and Ion Stancu, as well as Carmen Dumitrescu, Deputy General Manager of SIF1.

Market sources say that two individuals representing the interests of Catalin Chelu, one of the best-known investors on the equities market, are also on the list, but he declined to comment on the information.

Banca Transilvania, is the largest shareholder of SIF Banat-Crisana, with 7.5 percent of the stock according to the latest report dated December 2007. Other significant foreign and local shareholders are now coming to light, considering that the sale of large share packages on a declining market compared to previous years, which has been sharply hit by the global financial crisis, is out of the question.

The market value of SIF1 is now €75 million, ten times less than the €770 mln peak registered on 24 July 2007. Most of SIF1’s fortune is invested in large lenders on the market. The value of share packages owned at BRD - Groupe Societe Generale and Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) amounts to €45.5 mln, and €42.4 mln, respectively. Banca Transilvania (BT) ranks third, of which the financial investment company owns shares worth RON 50 mln (€12 mln), followed by the Calipso Oradea public food company, the Bancpost lender, and the Napomar Cluj Napoca machinery producer.

The value of SIF1’s net assets amounted to €195.8 mln at the end of February, according to the company’s latest report.

EBRD, which owns 15 percent of Banca Transilvania’s shares, said five months ago that BT’s financial performance remains strong, and is not subject to “toxic assets” or refinancing risks, according to HotNews.ro. The international institution indicated that it provided some €80 mln to Banca Transilvania over the years, in the form of loans and participations in the lender’s share capital.

Last Thursday, the BET-FI index, which monitors the evolution of the five financial investment companies (SIF Moldova, SIF Muntenia, SIF Transilvania, SIF Oltenia, and SIF Banat-Crisana), rose 6.4 percent, the highest increase on the market.