The decision made by the Budget-Finance Committee of the Chamber of Deputies to modify the law draft on the stake holding ceiling in SIFs was triggered by the speech president Traian Basescu delivered in early February with regard to the groups of interests around SIFs, the richest companies in the country, owning 30% in BCR and millions of euros in cash.
The proposal to modify the law draft was based on a point of view the National Securities Commission (CNVM) sent to the Chamber of Deputies.
“We proposed the modification of the law due to the warning in the speech president Basescu delivered at the Ministry of Interior and Administration. We were aware of the existence of some groups of interests controlling stakes in SIFs, but we have no evidence. The president probably has more information than we do,” Gabriela Anghelache, CNVM chairperson, stated last week.
The president had spoken about “the powerful moves to grab as many SIFs as possible,” without providing further details.
The main modification brought to the law approving the government ordinance regarding the stake holding ceiling in SIFs is the fact that the maximum threshold of 1% refers to the groups of investors acting together and not to individual investors, as the government ordinance had stipulated.
Anghelache also said that if the law was passed under its current form, CNVM was going to set up a registry including persons acting together, on the basis of these persons” statements. CNVM will not be able to check the existence of other groups beside the declared ones, though.
Another modification of the law draft also stipulates that the groups of investors acting together and holding more than 1% in a SIF have three months to sell stock so that they will hold less than 1%. Anghelache said this proposal was not forwarded by CNVM. “I disagree with forcing the ones holding more than 1% to sell. I would rather propose a limitation of the voting rights for stock exceeding this percentage,” said CNVM head. In line with the draft law, CNVM is supposed to issue some rules related to the implementation of the new stipulations.
The final word regarding legislation on the holding ceiling rests with the Chamber of Deputies, which is likely to discuss the draft this week.
vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro