ZAGREB, March 22 (Hina) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced that it sold 2.2 percent of its shares in the Croatian pharmaceutical company Pliva on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
ZAGREB, March 22 (Hina) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (EBRD) has announced that it sold 2.2 percent of its
shares in the Croatian pharmaceutical company Pliva on the London
Stock Exchange on Wednesday. #L#
The EBRD holds five percent of the company's shares and according to
an unnamed source, the bank plans to further reduce its share in
Pliva.
According to Reuters, the sale of more than two million of GDRs has
reduced their price by almost four percent to $10.75 per GDR.
In 1996 the EBRD bought an 11-percent share in the largest
pharmaceutical company in Central and East Europe in order to help
it include its shares in the London Stock Exchange. Since then, the
bank has been gradually reducing its share, which now amounts to
only five percent. The EBRD usually sells its shares in some
companies from countries with emerging markets once the period of
their operation stabilisation (about five years) has ended. The
sale of the EBRD share is another sign that Pliva's position on the
market is stable.
Last year, the EBRD participated in a US$75-million-worth
syndicated loan to Pliva in cooperation with the International
Financial Corporation. The bank's share in the loan, intended for
the construction of a new Pliva research centre in Zagreb, was 37.5
million dollars.
Pliva representatives are satisfied with the successful sale,
especially as the demand was higher than the offer.
(hina) rml