Erste employee shares float on stock exchanges

Newsroom 21/06/2010 | 11:01

The 251,365 shares issued by Erste (EBS) as part of its Employee Share Ownership Program (ESOP) began to be transacted on the Bucharest, Vienna and Prague stock exchanges on June 18, after having been released on May 27.

The local number of Erste Group stocks grew from 377.92 million to 378.17 million. Employees who received such shares through the program have to keep them for minimum one year. The bank’s employees own 3.2 percent of the capital, while 5.9 percent is in the possession of local banks. Private investors hold a 6.3 percent participation.

According to the most recent reports, the Austrian bank is 26.1 percent owned by Erste Stiftung, while Criteria Caixa Corp controls a capital stake of 10.1 percent. The American Investment Administration Company, Capital Research, hold a 5.1 percent participation, with 43.3 percent of the Austrian bank’s titles owned by institutional investors.