Petru Prunea, the chairman of Broker Cluj, the only stock market brokerage company listed on the Stock Exchange, says he plans to double the company's share capital over the next two years. This purpose of this move is help the company cope on the market and prevent it from being "easily" taken over by a foreign investor.
Prunea says several institutional investors have voiced their interest in Broker over the last few months. "Several banks have requested data on Broker over the last two months. An investment fund has also expressed its interest, but on condition Broker should be a closed company," Petru Prunea told ZF. He chose not to disclose the identity of investors interested in the company.
Broker Cluj has come to have a share capital comparable to that of SIFs, some of the richest companies in the country, in the wake of the capital increase operation carried out this year. The company's management had, in the past, expressed its wish that Broker should become a "sixth SIF".
With a value of 54.6 million RON (15.5 million euros), Broker's capital has outstripped that of SIF Moldova and Transilvania but remains lower than that of SIF Banat-Crisana, Oltenia and Muntenia. However, all the SIFs, excluding Muntenia, have not modified their share capital since the moment they were set up due to the high shareholder dispersion. Ultimately, this made it impossible for a quorum for the Extraordinary General Meeting to be reached, in order to decide upon a share capital raise.
The only financial investment company that has increased its share capital somehow was SIF Muntenia, but only the shareholders that had not picked up their dividends, and not all shareholders, benefited from the operation.
At the same time, Broker cannot be compared to the SIFs in terms of assets, as in late May the company had total assets worth 89.5 million RON (25.4 million euros), while SIFs' assets are worth approximately around 400-500 million euros.
"We did not target becoming the sixth SIF; we want to be a company that cannot be taken over easily, as has happened in other fields of business," specified Petru Prunea. He also said becoming a SIF was not Broker's objective, as the company also performs brokerage activities.
Broker management says the company will continue to try and bolster its position on the market, planning to merge with other similar companies to reach its objectives.
"In two years, we will reach a share capital of 100 million RON (28.5 million euros). We will attain these goals through planned mergers, as well," Prunea also said. He did not offer any details on the possible merger partners.
Prunea specified that the sums derived from the capital increase operation would be used for new investments on the capital market and to open new offices. During the last capital increase operation, Broker raised 11.1 million RON (3.17 million euros) from shareholders.
Broker Cluj
The only stock market brokerage firm listed on the Stock Exchange
Plans to double its share capital to survive on the market and avoid becoming an easy takeover target
Several institutional investors have voiced their interest in the company over the last few months
Plans to merge with other similar companies to bolster its position on the market.
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