Asirom's share-value doubles in three months

Stock of the second-largest insurance company on the Romanian market, Asirom Bucharest, increased by more than 13% on the Rasdaq electronic market on Tuesday. It reached 3,200 ROL/share, twice the value posted three months ago. At the end of May, one Asirom share was worth 1,600-1,700 ROL on the market. The company’s market capitalisation on Tuesday reached 61.3 million dollars. The rise in the price of Asirom stock came amid information concerning the possibility that Asirom might be taken over by OTP, the largest Hungarian bank. Asirom has recently reported modest increases in its financial indicators in the first six months of this year. OTP has recently taken over RoBank, but this bank is considered too small by the Hungarian group. Thus, OTP is trying to create an integrated financial group, with insurance being one of the priority domains investments are being aimed at. Asirom is held by businessman Ioan Nicolae through Interagro and Astra Romana refinery. Asirom had H1 gross subscribed premiums worth 3,105 billion ROL (76.1 million euros), only 5.5% higher in euros against the same period last year. ZF