Insurance company Omniasig Bucuresti on Monday acquired from the capital market 4.3 million shares of agricultural insurance company Agras, representing a little over 5 percent in the total, for a price of 4,000 lei per share, in a transaction worth 17.176 billion lei. Omniasig at present holds 36 percent in Agras capital.
The move is part of the resumed offensive to take over Agras stock this month. Omniasig launched an offer for almost 20 percent of stock for a price of 3,300 lei per share. Agras stock was traded at the end of last week at a price of 3,700 lei per share.
"It is too early for us to discuss about the measures that Omniasig will take at the moment it is to hold the Agras stake it has in view," company officials stated.
Should the offer succeed, Omniasig, which owned a stake of 30.7 percent in Agras capital, a position reported last November following the acquisition of the stake Brimex Agro company held in Agras, would hold a stake of 49.99 percent, thus becoming the main shareholder of the company. "The company is likely to continue trying to acquire the rest of stock, but any estimation launched at present is risky," capital market analysts consider. At the beginning of this month, sources within the Agricultural Bank (BA), the most important shareholder after Omniasig, stated the bank was little likely to sell the stake it held, for at least two reasons. One would be that the investment proved to be a very good placement. The second reason is that this stake is considered by bank officials as a strategic holding, as many BA customers are insured at Agras, and monetary flows of the insurance company are largely operated through the bank. The offer launched by Omniasig is the second offer an insurance company initiates in a bid to take over Agras stakes. The price offered by Omniasig for stock of the agricultural insurer is however, as in the case of the previous offer, below the level of the balance rate registered on the market. The buying offer will be placed during the period April 28-May 17 at Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), its intermediary being the securities company Financiara Stock Agency.
The first buying offer for Agras stock was launched by Omniasig at the beginning of this year. Through this operation, the company plans to acquire all stock of Agras, at a price of 2,300 lei per share. Subsequently, following the accelerated growth in the bourse price, Omniasig raised the offering price to 2,500 lei per share, but, considering that the benchmark price on the market stood at 3,900 lei per share, this second offer did not have the expected success, either.
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