A showdown between shareholders has begun in the Ukrainian subsidiary of VTB Bank
Kyiv, July 22 (Navigator, Vladimir Mikhailov) – In the Ukrainian subsidiary of the Russian VTB Bank, a showdown between shareholders has begun: minority shareholders do not agree with the increase in the authorized capital and the change in the share price and consider this a violation of their rights.
They stated this at the press conference “The Russian Bank has crossed the line of business ethics and ignores the legislation and statehood of Ukraine,” held today in Kyiv.
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“On July 25, an extraordinary meeting of shareholders will be held, the main issue on the agenda will be an increase in the authorized capital,” said minority shareholder Yulia Minchuk.
– This entails the repurchase of shares of those shareholders who will be against such a decision. The main question is the share repurchase price. It is formed on the basis of the exchange rate, which is calculated on the date that preceded the adoption of decisions.”
“On June 12, the bank’s Supervisory Board decided to increase the authorized capital, and the share price fell the day before,” Minchuk continued. “Why didn’t the price change earlier? I think the PFTS management is involved here. This is beneficial only to the largest shareholder in order to buy shares from us at the minimum price,” she suggested.
“All year the shares were quoted at about 3 UAH, but on June 11, for unknown reasons, they fell below par and for some reason began to cost 9 kopecks. This is an unprecedented situation. PFTS had to block trading due to the fact that the price was falling by more than 20%. Unfortunately, it did not happen. We don't know what the reason is. The complaint was sent to the commission. We are waiting for the result. There is a cynical violation of the law. And we suspect a conspiracy between officials of the PFTS and PJSC VTB BANK with the aim of manipulation to lower the price of repurchase of a block of our shares,” says Yulia Minchuk.
"Minorities are losing a lot of money when the share price falls," said minority shareholder Lyudmila Chaika . They also run into problems with the tax authorities, who have to explain why the shares were sold below the price they were originally purchased at.
Human rights activist and representative of the minority shareholder Sergei Tovstukha suspects that there is a conspiracy between the issuer and the exchange. “We are asking the SEC to conduct an investigation into how this happened. The exchange should have responded to this by suspending trading,” he says.
“VTB BANK PJSC treats its minority shareholders very differently from the main shareholders, although according to the law everyone has equal rights,” he said. “The bank stubbornly refuses to provide us with the decision of the supervisory board, which is illegal.”
For its part, PJSC VTB BANK rejects the accusations of minority shareholders and claims that the information from the participants in the press conference “damages the business reputation” of the financial institution.
“From the date of creation and as of July 22, 2014, PJSC VTB BANK was not held accountable by the National Securities and Stock Market Commission for violating the rights and interests of the bank’s shareholders,” the press service emphasizes in a statement. – The repurchase price for shares of PJSC VTB BANK was determined in accordance with Art. 8 of the Law of Ukraine “On Joint-Stock Companies” and amounts to UAH 0,094 per share with a par value of UAH 0,10. Confirmation of this price was provided by PJSC PFTS Stock Exchange.
Shareholder disputes have begun at VTB Bank's Ukrainian subsidiary.