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| Twenty buyers purchase FHB stake; none hold more than 5pc |
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Budapest, August 31, 2007 (MTI-ECONEWS) - Finance Minister Janos Veres on Friday said ten Hungarian and ten foreign buyers purchased parts of a 50pc-plus-one-vote stake in FHB Bank privatised on Wednesday. None of the buyers hold more than 5pc of the bank's shares, he said.
The State Privatisation and Holding Company (APV) will reveal the names of the buyers of the shares after the transaction is closed on September 4, Mr Veres said.
On Thursday, APV sold its 50pc-plus-one-vote stake in FHB Bank for HUF 2,025 per share to "international and Hungarian institutional investors." The state retained its "B"-series FHB shares, which account for 4.1pc of the bank's registered capital, but carry special voting rights.
The accelerated sale, which came as a big surprise for the market, generated revenue of HUF 66.8bn.
The offer price was 5pc under Wednesday's closing price of 2,145 and 13pc lower than the share's 2,343 peak during the previous twelve months.
Although the government decided to sell the state's stake in the bank to professional investors in October 2006, market players had expected the sale to take place in an open or a closed tender. At the press conference on Friday, it was revealed the government decided against its earlier plans for the sale because Allianz Hungaria had refused to give up the special veto rights its B-series shares confer. Allianz Hungaria holds 9.9pc of FHB, all of the stake being B-series shares.
Mr Veres said on Friday that the state had invested HUF 8bn in FHB Bank in the past ten years, and the bank's two-phase privatisation has generated revenue of HUF 80bn.
APV's CEO Peter Ferenc Deak noted that the HUF 2,025 share price in the sale reflects a 3.92 price-to-book value ratio and a 20.6 price-to-earnings ratio, both of which are in line with the industry averages of 3.9 and 22, respectively, in Europe. This means that the market recognises the growth potential of the bank, he said.
Mr Deak said the fact that more than 24 institutional investors, including Hungarian and foreign buyers were interested in the sale is an acknowledgement of the bank's strategy to remain independent.
FHB CEO Daniel Gyuris said the transaction showed that Hungary's mortgage market is not exposed to the crisis on the international mortgage market. He said the change in the bank's ownership would have a negative effect on the share price, but it will not affect the bank's bond rating.
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Source: MTI-EcoNews; 20070831 |
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