Group of Banca Transilvania shareholders proposes to eliminate the 5% ownership threshold

Several shareholders of the second publicly traded lender Banca Transilvania (TLV) asked the board to eliminate the 5 percent ownership threshold, the credit institution president Horia Ciorcila told NewsIn.

Bank shareholders will look into the proposal at the general meeting on April 29. The lender's norms stipulate that no shareholder can control more than 5 percent of the share capital, except for those that get the board's greenlight.

At the upcoming board meeting shareholders will also establish this year's budget and propose that total gross dividends of 50 million lei be paid from last year's profit.

Banca Transilvania recorded a 17 percent annual rise in net profit in 2008 to 398.23 million lei. Some 222 million lei were cashed after the lender sold its stake in insurer Asiban.

The bank has a share capital of 1.06 billion lei, divided into 1.06 billion shares. The main shareholder is the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), controlling a 14.54 percent stake.

The stock decreased today by 5.36 percent on the Bucharest Stock Exchange to 1.06 lei, which gives the company a capitalization of 1.12 billion lei.

NewsIn