The shares changed hands at a price of RON38 per share (RON414 million in all), 4.6% below the previous session’s closing price. This is the first such transaction on the DEALS market in years, according to data aggregated by ZF from the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
As an initial reaction, brokers suggest that the seller could be a pension fund which, as a result of accumulation over recent years and the all-time highs recently hit by Banca Transilvania shares, had reached the 5% stake cap and was thus had to reduce its stake.
The buyer could be another private pension fund, as well; most likely, this information will be made public in their reports over the next few days.
Although such portfolio rebalancing is not unprecedented on the local capital market, Wednesday’s transaction stands out due to its value, exceeding the cumulative trading volume of the main stock market over the last three trading days on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
Banca Transilvania has a market capitalization of RON44 billion, after its shares have gained 56% over the past year, on a traded volume of RON5.4 billion.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)