11% of Armatura sold on the Stock Exchange

On Monday, Banca Austria Creditanstalt sold almost an 11% stake in household tap maker Armatura, based in Cluj-Napoca, in a special transaction conducted on the Stock Exchange, according to sources from the market. The Austrian bank sold the shares on behalf of an investment fund, added the same sources. The transaction was concluded at a price of 0.5 RON/share, with its value standing at 1.67 million RON (0.47 million euros). The Austrian bank had been reported as company shareholder midway through the year, when it bought an 11.2% share from the Austrian company Herz Armaturen, Armatura’s majority shareholder at the time. CNVM (The National Securities Commission) had forced Herz to sell a11.7% stake, having exceeded the 33% mark without selling or putting out a tender offer for the rest of the shares. Herz Armaturen representatives stated then that they would challenge the CNVM ordinance before a court, arguing that the law forcing them to sell was enforced retroactively. In less than three months, the investment fund that had bought the shares through the bank gained some 17% following its investment in Armatura shares, an more than double yield compared to that of a one-year bank deposit.