Investment funds sell 33% of Rolast

A stake amounting to almost 33% in the rubber parts manufacturer Rolast Pitesti was transferred on Tuesday on the Bucharest Stock Exchange in a transaction worth 6.8 million RON (almost 2 million euros). According to information on the market, the sellers were the three investment funds, which currently control over 70% of the company shares and which had been looking for a buyer for a long time. The buyer in Tuesday””s transactions will have to launch a tender offer if it wants to buy more Rolast shares, as investors on the Stock Exchange are bound to launch a tender offer when they exceed the 33% threshold. “We sold a part of the shares traded yesterday. We may sell more if we receive a better offer,” stated Horia Manda, senior vice-president of the Romanian-American Enterprise Fund, which had controlled an approximately 22% stake in the company prior to this transaction. Ion Florescu, president of the Capital group, which is made up of the Romanian Investment Fund and the Romanian Reconstruction Ltd. fund, did not care to make any comment on Tuesday””s transaction. A few years ago, there was information on the market according to which Continental and Dunlop, two leading players on the market of rubber products were interested in taking over the facility in Pitesti, but the three investment funds maintained their position as shareholders. ZF