Trading activity on the Malta Stock Exchange was mild during this morning’s session with few active equities and generally low volumes.
The most noteworthy development was the announcement by FIMBank plc noting that it was informed that the Malta Financial Services Authority has confirmed on 29 May 2013 that it has no objection in terms of the Banking Act to the change in shareholding in FIMBank. FIMBank also stated that it was informed that a share purchase agreement has been entered into between Massaleh Investments K.S.C.C. and Kuwaiti Interests for Development Holding Co. on the one hand and Burgan Bank and UGB on the other hand.
In terms of the share purchase agreement and subject to the terms and conditions set out therein, upon completion, Burgan Bank will acquire 35,000,000 FIMBank shares and UGB will acquire 17,948,867 FIMBank shares. The total amount of 52,948,867 shares are currently held by Massaleh.
There was no reaction in the market this morning with buyers remaining unsatisfied at US$1.00 and below and sellers at the US$1.02 level.
The equities of the two large banks saw low activity and mild losses. Bank of Valletta plc eased back to the €2.25 level on a single trade of 1,300 shares and HSBC Bank Malta plc shed 0.4% to €2.63 with 6,505 shares changing hands. As a result, the MSE Share Index dropped 0.15% to 3,368.566 points.
The bulk of this morning’s activity was centred around Island Hotels Group Holdings plc with 182,000 shares changing hands at the equity’s all-time low of €0.52.
GO plc closed unchanged at €1.55 after opening the day at €1.52 while Middlesea Insurance plc shed 1.2% to €0.84 on a single deal of 3,500 shares.
On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index declined to 1,019.18 points as eurozone yields surpassed the 1.50% level following the announcement of a rise in eurozone economic confidence bolstering hopes that the eurozone could exit recession in the second half of this year. The Malta Stock Exchange announced the listing of the institutional tranches of the recent MGS issues with the retail tranches expected to follow in due course.