Austria’s Erste Bank, majority shareholder of BCR, is required to pay dividends until the bank’s listing, according to the BCR privatization contract and to its articles of incorporation.
On April 24, BCR shareholders decided, with a majority of 93.6% of the votes, to capitalize the 2010 profit worth EUR55 million, despite the bank being required to pay its holders at least 40% of the net profit calculated according to IFRS (international financial reporting standards) as dividends.
SIF Moldova was the only one of the five SIFs, which together hold 30.12% in BCR, to have voted against increasing the share capital.
2011 is the second year when the BCR does not pay dividends, after in 2010 the bank’s shareholders agreed to introduce an exception into the articles of incorporation, allowing for the 2009 profit to be capitalized.
“SIF Moldova decided to challenge the vote of the majority shareholder in the ordinary and extraordinary general meeting of April 29 because it does not comply with commitments taken in the privatization contract and in subsequent agreements,” said Costel Ceocea, SIF Moldova’s chairman.
BCR officials could not be contacted yesterday by edition close to comment on SIF Moldova’s move.
The non-disbursement of dividends is tightly connected to another commitment that BCR’s majority shareholder Erste made when it bought the majority stake in 2006, for EUR3.75 billion, from the Romanian state, the EBRD and the IFC: the bank’s listing in Bucharest.
The five investment funds remained shareholders of BCR on condition that the bank is listed on the stock exchange. In 2009, shareholders agreed to delay the start of listing proceedings until October 2011.