AVS announced today that it intends to make a tender offer for Ceska sporitelna common stock at CZK 375 per share. AVS has a 41% stake in the Erste Bank, of Austria, which has a 52% stake in Ceska sporitelna. AVS said in a press release that it anticipates that the tender offer, still subject to approval by the Czech SEC, will remain open for approximately six weeks. AVS also said it “would likely support a de-listing of Ceska sporitelna from the Prague Stock Exchange and/or other legal methods to acquire all minority shareholdings”. The Prague Stock Exchange suspended trading in Ceska sporitelna this morning; it is not yet known when trading will resume.
Ceska sporitelna has scheduled an analysts meeting at 12 p.m. CET today on the occasion of the company’s presentation of full-year 2001 IAS consolidated results, and has scheduled a conference call to discuss the results at 2:30 p.m. Erste Bank, which also presents its 2001 results today, has scheduled a conference call for 4 p.m. CET.
The 2001 IAS net income was reported this morning at CZK 1.80 bil. (vs. a CZK 1.5-1.75 bil. range expected by the market, according to CTK). At its May AGM, the bank will propose a CZK 3 per-share gross dividend.
As of today, Patria’s investment opinion on Ceska sporitelna is restricted. Patria Finance has been authorized by AVS to arrange for the implementation of the above-mentioned tender offer.
(Ondrej Datka)