SFI board of directors proposes shareholders redeem 55% of company shares

MOSCOW. Feb 26 (Interfax) - The board of directors of SFI , formerly Safmar Financial Investments, has invited its shareholders to consider reducing the charter capital of the company by redeeming 55% of its shares, the investment holding company said in a press release.

An extraordinary general shareholders meeting on this issue is scheduled for April 5. The agenda also includes the reorganization of the PJSC by means of a merger with SFI Trading, the holder of a block of the company's quasi-treasury shares that is equivalent to 57.09% of the charter capital of SFI PJSC, or 63,732,232 shares.

Once the reorganization is complete, the property, rights and obligations of SFI Trading will be transferred to SFI PJSC. "In accordance with the merger agreement, the extraordinary general meeting of SFI PJSC shareholders will be asked to make a decision on the redemption of 61,400,786 of these shares (55% of the current charter capital) and thus reduce the charter capital of the company," the statement says.

SFI shareholders who do not participate in the EGM or vote against the reorganization have the right to demand the repurchase of their respective shares at 767.2 rubles per share. Shares have been trading around 1,300 rubles/share on the Moscow Exchange on Monday.

SFI announced in January that it had become the direct owner of SFI Trading. The holding previously owned the company through its Cyprus-registered subsidiaries, Weridge Investments Limited and Barigton Holdings Limited.

PJSC SFI is a public investment holding company that owns 100% of the Europlan leasing company, 49% in the VSK insurance company, and 51% in the GFN.RU gaming service. SFI also owns 11.2% of the shares in RussNeft and 10.4% of the shares in the M.Video retailer.