The calculations in my letter (‘Justice for National Bank shareholders’, January 18) have been upset by the fact that I used a Bank of Valletta share price of €2.63 whereas last Friday’s post-bonus share closing price stood at €2.44.
Thus, an out-of-court settlement of €40/50 million would entail the government disposing of 16.4/20.5 million shares. This would still leave the government with a very substantial shareholding compared to its holding of 84.84 million shares.
In any case, the current market value of the government’s 25.71 per cent equity stake in BOV is about €207 million, that is more than double the figure of €100 million mentioned in the editorial of January 18.