Erste Bank: Erste Bank issues some 1m new shares under the stock option program

Employees of Erste Bank Group purchased 663,349 shares, under the Employee Stock Option Programme (ESOP) 2007. The offer price was set at a 20% discount to the average share price in April 2007. Under the current management options programmes (MSOP 2002 and 2005) 308,591 shares were purchased. Shares purchased under the programmes have 1 year lockup, while shares from the ESOP have to be held for a total of 5 years for tax purposes. The related capital increase, from contingent capital, involved a total issuance of 971,940 new shares.

Trading in the new shares will start today, in Vienna and Prague. Employees and management of Erste Bank currently hold some 3% of the shares in the company.

Our view: We do not expect the news to have any substantial impact on the stock trading, given that both stock option programmes are broadly anticipated by the market and the lockup period.