Investment funds and banks prepare Bourse revolution

Support coming from foreign investment funds, among the biggest shareholders in the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE), is likely to make some shareholders’ old wishes come true: the distribution of BSE liquidities to shareholders and the selection of administrators on the basis of a cumulative vote.

Two weeks ahead of the General Meeting (AGA) of April 29, a group of shareholders has submitted a share capital halving proposal to the Bourse, from 76.7m lei to 38.3m lei, by reducing the nominal value from 10 to 5 lei, with the resulting sum to be disbursed to shareholders in form of extraordinary dividends.

At the end of last year, BSE held 63.3m lei in cash, so that the sum resulting from the share capital reduction would account for more than half of the bourse operator’s liquidities.

According to some market sources, investment funds managed by Franklin Templeton and those of Austria’s Erste Sparinvest, BSE’s biggest institutional investors are among the ones behind the proposal.

The funds are also likely to propose to the BSE management that a proposal regarding the selection of managers on the basis of a cumulative vote be included on the GM agenda.