Exhibition company to quit stock exchange

  • 1999-07-29
  • By Kairi Kurm
TALLINN - Eferelt, the majority owner of the Eesti Naitused exhibition company, wants to buy up to 20 percent of the company's stock from smaller shareholders and quit the Tallinn Stock Exchange.

The Eesti Naitused management said it wants to finish quotation on the secondary list because less than the necessary 25 percent of shares are held publicly and the company's majority shareholder does not intend to increase the volume of publicly held shares.

"The share capital of Eesti Naitused is unreasonably large and there is no reason to issue any additional shares to the shareholders," said Helle Kallas, financial director at Eesti Naitused

As of July 19, Eferelt held 62 percent of the shares in Eesti Naitused and intends to increase its holding to 82 percent of share capital.

It offered to buy the necessary stock at 12.5 kroons ($0.81)per share, which is 20.4 percent higher than the share's average close price on the Tallinn Stock Exchange during the last six months. The amount to be paid by Eferelt for the offering will be about 7.9 million kroons.

According to the preliminary information, the purchase offer will be valid from July 26 until Aug. 23.

The purchase offer does not include the 18 percent of outstanding shares held by the Baltic Republics Fund.

Eferelt does not intend to make substantial changes in the business activities of Eesti Naitused, which will continue organizing exhibitions, fairs and seminars, and executing selected strategic plans.

The net sales of Eesti Naitused amounted to 46 million kroons last year and the net profit reached 9.5 million kroons. For 1999 the company predicts 38 million kroons in net sales and 6 million kroons in profit.