All quiet on the SIF front

The General Shareholders Meetings at the financial investment companies held at the end of last week kept the tradition of the last few years: low shareholder attendance and endorsement of all items on the agenda, amid feeble protests of some of the participants. This could, however, be the last year of quiet General Meetings at SIFs. The deadline by which the special law regulating these companies has to be enacted is about to expire, while the normative act draft is much more lenient with the maximal stakes, allowing for a better concentration of the votes.
One of the most eagerly awaited GMs was that at SIF Moldova. The company has been involved in several scandals lately, one of which broke out just a few days before the General Shareholders Meeting.
“SIF Moldova chairman suggested the shareholders to authorise the Board of Directors to investigate whether the share price on the market was manipulated or not. The shareholders could not vote on this, because it was not one of the items on the agenda,” Adrian Manaila, Eldainvest brokerage firm manager recalls.
Latest rumours show SIF Moldova to have entrusted large amounts of cash to a company, which registered people that had prejudiced the SIF in the past among its shareholders. The SIF management is planning to offer its shareholders 490 ROL/share in net dividend next year.
SIF Muntenia’s General Shareholders Meeting held in Bucharest had the election of a new Board member included on its agenda, besides the financial results. One of the initial candidates was businessman Catalin Chelu, who is also one of the top investors in SIF shares, but he eventually gave up. On the other hand, he is one of the fiercest critics of the current SIF management.
“There’s a conflict of interests between the management of SIF Muntenia and the one of Muntenia Investment, which administers SIF’s patrimony. The costs SIF Muntenia had to bear over the last few years have been much higher than those incurred by the other SIFs,” Catalin Chelu told Ziarul Financiar.