|
EBRD sells 50 per cent of its shares in Estonia's Hansabank
Sale of shares highlights success in transition towards market economy
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has sold half of its shares in Hansabank, the leading bank in the Baltic States, to a number of reputable institutional investors, reducing its stake to 4.85 per cent from 9.7 per cent. The EBRD acquired its initial stake in 1998 as part of an effort to provide institutional strength to Hansabank and help promote its growth in the region.
CA IB Corporate Finance Limited acted as global coordinator and bookrunner to sell the EBRD's 3,824,392 shares. The offering was an international accelerated bookbuilt private placement, under Rule 144A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933. The transaction was launched and concluded on Monday, 25 February 2002.
Kurt Geiger, Business Group Director for Financial Insitutions at the EBRD, said the sale is a key element of the Bank's mandate to help Estonia's transition to a market economy. It highlights the EBRD's ability to help strengthen financial institutions, as well as eight years of successful cooperation between the EBRD and Hansabank. In that time, Hansabank has become the leading bank in the Baltic States. Moreover, Mr Geiger said the transaction should benefit the local capital markets by making a larger number of shares freely available. Although it has reduced its shareholding, the EBRD remains a significant investor and lender to Hansabank and is strongly committed to its further development.
The offer price was set at €12.30 per share, raising a total of €47.04 million. The price is equivalent to a 2.79 per cent discount to the closing price on Friday 22 February on the Tallinn Stock Exchange. The book was 1.5 times oversubscribed and the shares were placed primarily with dedicated emerging European funds in continental Europe and the UK. Around 1.9 million shares, or 50 per cent of the offering, were placed with Hansabank's major shareholder Förenings Sparbanken AB (Swedbank), increasing their shareholding to 60.08 per cent.
|
