Warsaw Stock Exchange to remove shares in Ukraine's Kernel from indices as free float falls below 10%

MOSCOW. Sept 6 (Interfax) - Shares in Ukrainian agricultural holding Kernel will be removed from the Warsaw Stock Exchange's mWIG40, mWIG40TR, WIG140, WIG-ESG, WIG, WIG-food, WIG-CEE and WIG-Ukraine indices, as well as CEEplus, after the September 7, 2023 session.

"The removal of Kernel shares from the portfolios of the above indices is the result of their regulations, according to which companies with a free float of below 10% cannot be included in the indices," Ukrainian media said, citing GPW Benchmark.

Namsen Limited, controlled by Andrei Verevsky, the majority shareholder and head of Kernel, bought 212,634,916 shares from the company's offering of 216 million additional shares existing shareholders who are qualified investors. The purchase price was $0.2777 per share, implying that Verevsky spent $59.05 million on the shares in a deal carried out on September 1.

Kernel said the additional shares "will be kept in registered form and will not be admitted to trading on any stock exchange."

In the prospectus for the new placement, Kernel allowed the sale of up to 216 million new shares, which, together with other terms of the offer, led minority shareholders to suspect that Andrei Verevsky was trying to dilute their stake.

Verevsky increased his stake in Kernel from 41.3% to 74.05% or 62,222,460 shares on May 12 after buying 30,248,449 shares at PLN18.5 each or about $136.1 million in total as part of a buyback and delisting from the WSE.

Kernel says on its website that Kernel Holding SA (Luxembourg) has 300,031,023 issued ordinary shares, the par value of which was not specified, carrying 293,429,023 votes. Namsen Ltd owns 91.61% of the authorized capital or 93.67% of voting shares and the free float is 6.19%, or 6.33%.

The company was awaiting the Polish regulator's decision on the delisting application, which is opposed by a number of minority shareholders.