Societatea de Investitii Financiare (Financial Investment Company - SIF) Transilvania is planning to liquidate its 17.28% interest in ARDAF, after having "fought" for control over the insurance-reinsurance company for several years. The deal is estimated at about one million dollars.
The buyer could be the same Tender Group that became the significant shareholder of ARDAF at the very last minute this year, following a surprise participation to the increase of the insurance company's capital.
SIF Transilvania last Thursday put out a public offer for the sale of its 17.28% (a little above 30 million shares) stake in the Cluj-based company on the RASDAQ on November 28, with the accepted price per share ranging from 1,260 ROL to 1,050 ROL depending on the subscription date.
The offer began last Thursday and is set to end on December 4, with the price per share to decrease by 35 ROL every day until reaching 1,050 ROL/share. The buyer has to take the entire stake offered.
"Our decision to sell this interest is due to the shift in strategy in this field. This stake will probably be bought by ARDAF's significant shareholder, the Tender Group. We had talks about this several months ago and it only took so long to put out the offer because we had to wait for the National Securities Commission (CNVM) to endorse it," SIF Transilvania chairman Mihai Fercala told Ziarul Financiar.
On the other hand, Ovidiu Tender, owner of the Tender Group declined comment. "We cannot go public with our company's strategy," Tender says. He added, "the important thing is we will either conduct a new capital increase or buy more into ARDAF."
The Tender Group, which registers more than $70 million in turnover is currently contemplating the possibility to buy the 15.17% in ARDAF held by Eurom Bank. Having failed to take control of the insurance company, the Eurom Bank management showed willing to sell its shares and went even further, by saying it was planning to establish its own insurer.
