After 11:50 (GMT0950) local time, the SIFs touched the maximum allowed variation limit, namely a 15% increase, as investors scrambled in this new context. In the first few minutes of SIF trading, transactions cumulated 3.3 million lei (EUR760 million).
The bourse raised the priceup limit to 25% at 12:05 hours.
The Chamber of Deputies, the decision maker chamber, approved the decision with 170 pros, 63 cons and 11 abstentions. The act will now be sent to President Traian Basescu for promulgation.
After the decision is published in the Official Journal, the SIFs have 60 days to call shareholder meetings and change their constitutive literature to include the new ownership limit.
A conclusion on the matter has been awaited by investors since 2009, when two MPs filed the proposition. Over the past three weeks, debates on the draft law were thrice postponed, sparking wide variation, both ways, for the SIFs on the bourse.
Initially, the proposition aimed to remove ownership limits entirely for the SIFs, but fear of speculation and hostile takeovers created the need for a, laxer but active, limit on ownership.
The introduction of an ownership limit was first approved in 1997 by SIF shareholders themselves. This limit stood at 0.1% and it was raised to 1% in 2006.