Moldovan Public Property Agency, Bulgarian company sign pre-contract on purchasing shares newly issued by commercial bank of Moldova

Chisinau, 14 February /MOLDPRES/ - The Public Property Agency (APP), in the name of Moldova’s government, and the Bulgarian stock company Doverie–Invest signed a pre-contract on the purchasing of the shares newly issued by the bank of systemic importance Moldindconbank on 13 February.   

A press release issued by APP reads that the pre-contract with the potential buyer, approved by the government at a meeting on 30 January, expresses the cabinet’s support for turning more transparent and consolidation of Moldova’s banking sector.

The block of stocks newly issued by Moldindconbank, amounting to 3, 173, 751 units, will be bought by the Public Property Agency and then put to public sale on the regulated market, in conditions of transparency, according to the provisions on the management and de-nationalization of public property, rules of the Stock Exchange and other regulatory acts.    

Both the potential Buyer, which signed the Pre-contract – the stock company Doverie-Invest and other potential buyers, which got the preliminary permission of the National Bank of Moldova (BNM), have right to participate in the public sale, the Public Property Agency said. The winner of the public sale will be determined exclusively based on the price offered for the shares. If the stock company Doverie-Invest does not win the public sale, the Agency will make efforts to make sure that the issuer offers to the winner of the public sale the same rights, protections and conditions as the ones provided to the potential Buyer, under the Pre-contract.     

Moldindconbank is a systemic bank, the second largest bank on Moldova’s local market, with a share of about 23.2 per cent of the deposits of private persons from the banking sector and with a number of about 604,000 of depositors private people. At the same time, Moldindconbank is positioned as leader of the banking sector according to the number of cards in circulation on the local market, with a quota of 37.8 per cent. Also, Moldindconbank exercises a big influence on the national economy in terms of financing most economic sectors, as well as through its significant role (second place) as regards the volume of ordinary and treasure payments.  

On 20 October 2016, BNM blocked a group of Moldindconbank shareholders, who were acting jointly through an earlier acquisition and holding a substantial quota in the bank’s registered share capital – 63.89 per cent, without the preliminary written permission by BNM, thus infringing the provisions on the law on financial institutions. Following the cancellation of the suspended shares, new shares were issued, in line with the law on the capital market. These new shares were not evaluated by a famous international company and were put to sale at the exchange, but they were not demanded.

On 22 January 2019, the BNM executive committee approved a decision on preliminary permission for the purchasing by the Bulgarian company DOVERIE UNITED-HOLDING AD of the block of shares of 63.89 per cent of Moldindconbank’s shares. On the immediately next day, the National Financial Stability Committee proposed that the government starts negotiations with the potential buyer of the single block of shares worth 63.89 per cent of Moldindconbank’s shares, in order to facilitate the transaction, under the law on the management and de-nationalization of public property.