Carpatica asks shareholders for 10m euros

Banca Comerciala Carpatica will request approval from its shareholders to start a capital increase operation that will see it raising about 10 million euros. The proposition will be submitted to the bank’s shareholders in the first half of November. The bank is supposed to issue 240 million shares with a par value of 0.1 RON as part of this capital increase. The shares should be offered to the bank’s shareholders for a price of 0.15 RON/share, 0.05 RON of which account for the issue premium. The bank’s shares had closed the last trading session of last week at 0.51 RON and went up almost 7% to 0.545 RON yesterday, following the announcement of the share capital increase plans. Carpatica’s share capital currently stands at 115 million RON (32 million euros). The bank’s shareholders will therefore have the right to subscribe one new share for every five shares held. The shares left unsubscribed will be cancelled. Contacted by ZIARUL FINANCIAR, the representatives of the bank had not provided any more details about the capital operation by the time the story was ready for print. Carpatica has banked on a significant expansion of its territorial network over the last few months, attempting to boost resources raised from customers, so as to increase its market share. The bank has recently reached a 200-strong branch network and plans to have 230 branches by yearend. The bank’s officials estimated the bank would reach 1% market share by the end of 2006, compared with 0.8% in midyear.