Nord wants out of Ibis

Nord SA shareholders will convene tomorrow for an Extraordinary General Meeting to decide whether to sell the 26.2% stake in Continental-Nord Company, owner of the Ibis Hotel in Bucharest, to one of the companies that have submitted takeover bids by January 24. “The shareholders will assess the offers received during the public tender and decide whether the requirements for selling the interest in Continental-Nord have been met,” Radu Nicolescu, Nord SA general manager, said. The Continental chain is the majority shareholder of Continental-Nord. Continental was planning to increase share capital by $4 million, $1.2 million of which in form of a cash inflow and the rest in form of a contribution in kind, by including a hotel in Constanta in the patrimony. This would have decreased Nord’s stake. Although having initially said he was interested in buying Nord’s stake, Radu Enache, Continental SA chairman says he did not submit a bid. “I have changed my mind, I am no longer interested in the stake in question. At any rate, the contract binds them to give me pre-emption rights for buying those shares,” Enache specified. ZF