LION CAPITAL S.A. - SIF1

Convening notice for the OGSM and the EGSM for November 2 (3), 2020

Published: 9/29/2020 6:00:06 PM

IRIS Code: 892D7


Body

CURRENT REPORT

according to Regulation no. 5/2018
and Law no. 24/2017 on issuers of financial instruments and market operations

Report date: September 29, 2020

Issuer Societatea de Investitii Financiare Banat-Crisana SA (SIF Banat-Crisana) | Registered office 35A Calea Victoriei, Arad 310158, Romania | Phone +40257 304 438 | Fax  +40257 250 165 | Webpage www.sif1.ro | Email sifbc@sif1.ro| Tax Identification Code RO2761040 | Trade Register Number J02 / 1898 / 02.09.1992 | Number In ASF AFIAA Register PJR07.1AFIAA / 020007 / 09.03.2018 | Number In ASF SIIRS Register PJR09SIIR / 020002 / 02.02.2006  | Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) 254900GAQ2XT8DPA7274 | Subscribed and paid-up share capital RON 51,746,072.40 | Regulated market on which the issued securities are traded: Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) Premium category (symbol: SIF1)

Important event to be reported:

Convening notice for the ordinary general meeting of shareholders and the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders for November 2 (3), 2020

The following is an English translation of the Convening Notice for the Ordinary and Extraordinary General Meeting of the Shareholders of SIF Banat-Crisana. The company provides this translation for shareholders’ reference and convenience. If the English version of this Convening Notice differs from the Romanian version, the latter prevails.

CONVENING NOTICE

The Board of Directors of Societatea de Investitii Financiare Banat-Crisana S.A. (hereinafter “SIF Banat-Crisana” or “the Company”), registered with the Trade Register Office of Arad Court under number Arad J02/1898/1992 and in the ASF Register under number PJR07.1AFIAA / 020007 / 09.03.2018, having the Unique Registration Code 2761040 and the subscribed and paid-up share capital of RON  51,746,072.40, gathered in the meeting held on September 29, 2020, convenes, pursuant to art. 117 of Law no. 31/1990, the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGM) for November 2, 2020, at 10:00 hours and the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (OGM) for November 2, 2020 at 12:00 hours, at the company's headquarters in Arad, 35A Calea Victoriei.

Should the conditions for validity are not met on the first call, The Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGM) is convened for November 3, 2020 at 10:00 and The Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (OGM) is convened for November 3, 2020, at 12:00, with the same agenda and at the same venue.

Company's share capital consists of 517,460,724 nominative shares, with nominal value of RON 0.10 dematerialized and indivisible, each share giving the right to one vote in the general meeting of shareholders, except for the shares for which voting right is suspended as per art. 105 par. (2) of Law no. 31/1990.

Only the persons registered as shareholders of the Company in the register of shareholders kept by Depozitarul Central S.A. at the end of office on October 22, 2020 (considered as the reference date) have the right to participate and vote at the general meeting of shareholders.

The extraordinary general meeting of shareholders will have the following topics on the agenda:

1. Approval of amending the Company’s Articles of Association, to comply with the provisions of Law no. 243/2019 on alternative investment funds, amending and supplementing certain normative acts, and the provisions of ASF Regulation no. 7/2020, as follows:

- Art. 1 paragraph (4) is amended and will have the following content:

The company operates under the provisions of ordinary and special laws, concerning: the closed-ended alternative investment funds, established as investment companies with legal personality, whose shares are listed on a regulated market;  the alternative investment fund managers; the companies admitted to trading on a regulated market, the trading companies, the provisions of this Articles of Association, as well as the rules and operating procedures of the company.

- Art. 2 paragraph (1) is amended and will have the following content:

(1) The main field of business activity is: Financial intermediation except for insurance activities and pension funds, CAEN code 64, and the main object of company’s activity is Other financial intermediation n.c.a., CAEN code 6499. The object of object of company’s activity consists in:

a) portfolio management;

b) risk management;

c) other activities auxiliary and adjacent to collective management activity permitted by the legislation in force.

- Art. 5, paragraph (7) is amended and will have the following content:

The company may repurchase its own shares, under the conditions and in compliance with the applicable legal provisions. The shares of the Company may not be repurchased at the request of the  investors, directly or indirectly, from Company’s assets, before the beginning of the liquidation stage of the Company.

- Art. 6 paragraph (1) is amended and will have the following content:

The General Meeting of Shareholders is the supreme deliberation and decision-making body of the company and operates in accordance with the legal provisions in force and the articles of association.

- Art. 6 paragraph (5) letter d) is amended and will have the following content:

To determine the remuneration for the current year for the administrators, as well as the general limits of all the additional remunerations of the administrators and of the remunerations of the directors to whom the management of the company has been delegated, according to Law no. 31/1990;

- Art. 6 paragraph (8) letter c) is amended and will have the following content:

The establishment, or the dissolution of branches, subsidiaries, agencies, representative offices, and other places of business.

- Art. 6 paragraph (19) is amended and will have the following content:

The resolutions of the ordinary or extraordinary general meeting may also be adopted based on the votes cast by correspondence and / or by another procedure for consulting the shareholders permitted by law. The procedure for consulting the shareholders will be in accordance with applicable law, the Board of Directors having the responsibility for organizing and the conduct of the voting methods in the general meetings of shareholders, within the limits provided by law.

- Art. 6 paragraph (20) is amended and will have the following content:

Resolutions of the general meeting are taken by open vote or secret ballot. Shareholders can also vote by correspondence. The secret ballot is mandatory for the election or revocation of the Board of Directors, for the appointment of revocation of the financial auditor and for the taking of decisions regarding the liability of the members of the management, executive management and control of the Company.

- Art. 14 is amended and will have the following content:

(1) The persons elected in the Board of Directors shall meet the requirements laid down in Law 31/1990 republished and the capital market legislation and not to be members of the board of directors / supervisory board or managers / members of the executive board of another AIFM/investment management company/investment company or SIF Banat-Crisana’ depositary bank, not to be members of the board of directors/supervisory board of the SSIF with which SIF Banat-Crisana concluded a financial intermediation contract and not to be employed or have any kind of contractual relationship with another SAI or investment company, except for other entities belonging to the same group;

(2) The persons appointed as directors (managers) and the persons replacing them in office shall not be members of the board of directors / supervisory board or managers / members of the executive board of other AIFM or of SIF Banat-Crisana’s depositary bank, not to be members of the board of directors / supervisory board, managers or members of the executive board of the investment firm (SSIF) with which SIF Banat-Crisana concluded a financial intermediation contract and not to be employed or have any kind of contractual relationship with another AIFM, except for other entities belonging to the same group.

- Art. 15 is amended and will have the following content:

Company's net assets. Net asset value will be monthly calculated, certified, and published  in compliance with the applicable regulations in force. The evaluation of the assets under company’s management for the calculation of the net asset value will be performed in compliance with the legal regulations in force.

- Art. 16 paragraph (1) is amended and will have the following content:

The company will conclude a depository contract with a depositary authorized and supervised by the competent authority, in accordance with applicable law. The activities that the depositary will carry out will be provided in the contract concluded between the Company and the depositary.

 

2. Approval of the partial revocation of the Resolution of the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders of April 22, 2019, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part IV, no. 2154 / 23.05.2019, respectively of article 1 of this resolution, which approved the execution of a buyback program of a maximum of 15,000,000 own shares.

3. Approval of Company carrying out a buyback program (“Program 3”) in compliance with applicable legal provisions and having the following main features:

(i) The purpose of Program 3: The Company will repurchase shares under the Program 3 to reduce its share capital.

(ii) The maximum number of shares that may be repurchased: 15,000,000 shares at most;

(iii) The minimum price per share: RON 0.1;

(iv) The maximum price per share: RON 5.1020;

(v) Program Duration: a maximum of 12 months after publication of the decision in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part IV;

(vi) The shares acquired under the Program 3 will be payed from sources permitted by law.

Besides its main characteristics, Program 3 will also include other requirements provided by law and which are not listed above. The acquisition of shares under Program 3 will be done through all market operations allowed by law, which may include public tender offers initiated by the Company, in accordance with the law. To implement the Program 3, the Board of Directors will be empowered to take all necessary measures and fulfil all formalities required, in compliance with the above-mentioned requirements.

4. Approval of November 18, 2020 as the registration date (November 17, 2020 as the ex date) in accordance with the provisions of Art. 86 par. 1 of Law no. 24/2017 and ASF Regulation no. 5/2018.

The ordinary general meeting of shareholders will have the following topics on the agenda:

1. Appointment of the financial auditor, setting the duration of the financial audit contract and empowering the Board of Directors to negotiate and conclude the audit contract;

2. Approval of the Revised Budget of Revenues and Expenses for the financial year 2020;

3. Approval of November 18, 2020 as the registration date (November 17, 2020 as the ex date) in accordance with the provisions of Art. 86 par. 1 of Law no. 24/2017 and ASF Regulation no. 5/2018.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 117^1, paragraph (1) of Law no. 31/1990, of Art. 92 par. (3) of Law no. 24/2017 and of Art. 189 of ASF Regulation no. 5/2018, one or several shareholders representing, individually or jointly, at least 5% of the Company’s share capital, may request the Company’s Board of Directors the introduction of additional topics on the agenda of the general meeting and/or the presentation of draft resolutions for the items included or proposed to be included on the agenda of the general meeting, provided that:

(i). In case of shareholders natural persons, the requests must be accompanied by copies of the shareholders’ identity documents and the statement attesting the shareholder’s capacity and the numbers of shares held, issued by Depozitarul Central SA or, where appropriate, by the intermediaries defined under art. 2, par. (1) pt. 20 of Law no. 24/2017, providing custodian services;

(ii). In the case of legal persons shareholders, their requests must be accompanied by:

· the original or a true copy of the findings certificate issued by the Trade Register (in Romanian “certificat constatator”) or any other document, in original or true copy, issued by a competent authority of the state where the shareholder is duly incorporated, all being no older than 3 months as from the date of the publication of the general meeting’s convening notice, allowing the identification thereof in the Company’s registry of shareholders kept by Depozitarul Central SA;

· the capacity of legal representative shall be proven with the document attesting the record of the information concerning the legal representative at Depozitarul Central, issued by Depozitarul Central or, such is the case, by the intermediaries defined as per Art. 2, par. (1) pt. 20 of Law no. 20/2017, providing custodian services.

If the shareholders’ registry does not contain data on the matter of the capacity as legal representative, then this capacity is proven by means of a findings certificate issued by the Trade Register, presented in original or a true copy thereof, or any other document in original or true copy, issued by a competent authority of the state where the shareholder is duly incorporated, the document being no older than 3 months as from the date of the publication of the general meeting’s convening notice, attesting the capacity of legal representative;

· the documents attesting the legal representative capacity drafted in a foreign language other than English shall be accompanied by their translation into Romanian or English, performed by a certified translator.

· the statement attesting the shareholder’s capacity and the number of shares held, issued by Depozitarul Central SA or, where appropriate, by the intermediaries defined under art. 2, par. (1) pt. 20 of Law no. 24/2017, providing custodian services.

(iii). Are accompanied by a justification and/or a draft resolution proposed for adoption.

(iv). Are sent and registered at the Company’s headquarters in Arad, 35A Calea Victoriei, by electronic means, with an attached extended electronic signature, or by any type of courier service, with proof of delivery, by no later than October 16, 2020, 16:00 hours, in original, signed and, if the case, stamped by the shareholders or shareholders’ legal representative. The same identification requirements mentioned above shall also be applicable to the legal representative of the shareholders addressing questions regarding the items on the agenda of the general meeting.

Shareholders have the right to submit questions to the Company, in writing form sent and registered at the Company’s headquarters in Arad, 35A Calea Victoriei, by electronic means, with an attached extended electronic signature, or by any type of courier service, with proof of delivery, no later than October 23, 2020, 16:00 hours, in original, signed and, if the case, stamped by the shareholders or their legal representatives. The requirements set out above for proving the shareholder quality, respectively of the quality of legal representative of the shareholders requesting the inclusion of additional topics on the agenda of the general meeting, are also properly applied to the shareholders who ask questions about the topics on the agenda of the general meetings. The company may respond during the general meeting or by posting the response on its website in the “Frequently Asked Questions” section if the requested information is of public information nature, is not found in the informative materials for the agenda of the general meeting or in the periodical reports of the company; and do not interfere with the Company's commercial interests.

Shareholders may exercise their voting right directly, through a representative, or by correspondence.

Shareholders may enter and attend the shareholders’ general meeting after proving their identity, in the case of natural persons by presenting the identity card or, in the case of shareholders legal entities, and natural persons shareholders that are represented, by presenting the empowerment given to the individuals they are represented by, observing the applicable laws in the matter, the provisions of this convening notice and the procedures approved by the company’s Board of Directors.

In the case of shareholders legal entities or bodies without legal personality, the capacity of legal representative is ascertained from the shareholders’ list as at the reference date issued by Depozitarul Central SA. However, if the shareholders’ registry as at the reference has no data reflecting the legal representative capacity, then this capacity is proven by means of a findings certificate issued by the Trade Register, presented in original or a true copy thereof, or any other document, presented in original or a true copy thereof, issued by a competent authority of the state where the shareholder is duly incorporated, attesting the capacity of legal representative.

The documents attesting the capacity of legal representative of the shareholders legal entities have to be issued no more than 3 months before the date of the publication of the convening notice for the shareholder’s general meeting.

The documents attesting the legal representative capacity prepared in a foreign language other than English shall be accompanied by their translation into Romanian or English performed by a certified translator.

Shareholders lacking legal capacity as well as legal entities may be represented by their legal representatives, which in their turn may appoint others by a proxy (empowerment).

Shareholders may be represented in the general meeting by other persons, under a special empowerment or a general empowerment.

For this type of voting, the special empowerment forms (in Romanian or English) must be used, compliant to the provisions of applicable legislation, made available by the company’s Board of Directors, or a general empowerment drawn up pursuant to the provisions of Law no. 24/2017 and ASF Regulation no. 5/2018. Shareholders legal entities or entities without legal personality participating in the general meeting by someone other than their legal representative must use a special empowerment or a general empowerment, complying with the above stated requirements.

The special empowerment forms will be available in Romanian and English starting October 3, 2020 at the company’s headquarters, the company's branch office at the addresses presented herein and on company’s website, www.sif1.ro.

Shareholders shall fill in and sign the special empowerment forms in three counterparts: one for the shareholder, one for the representative, and one for the company. The document for the company, filled in and signed by the shareholders shall be personally lodged or sent:

·         by any type of courier service - the special empowerment form in original, accompanied by the necessary documents, to the Company’s headquarters in Arad, 35A Calea Victoriei, so that it can be registered by the company no later than October 31, 2020, 10:00 hours, subject to losing the voting right in case of default.

·         by e-mail - with extended electronic signature incorporated in accordance with Law no. 455/2001 on the electronic signature at aga@sif1.ro no later than October 31, 2020, 10:00 hours, subject to losing the voting right in case of default.

The company will recognize a general empowerment to participate and vote in the general meeting of shareholders, given by a shareholder, as a client, to an intermediate as defined in Art. 2 par. (1) pt. 20 of Law no. 24/2017, or to a lawyer, without requesting additional documents relating to such shareholder, if the general empowerment complies with the provisions of Art. 205 of ASF Regulation no. 5/2018, is signed by such shareholder and is accompanied by an affidavit given by the legal representative of the intermediary or by the lawyer to whom it was granted the power of representation by the general empowerment, showing that:

(i) the empowerment is granted by such shareholder, as a client, to his/her intermediary or, where appropriate, to the lawyer;

(ii) the general empowerment is signed by the shareholder, including the attachment of extended electronic signature, if necessary.

The affidavit given by the legal representative of the intermediary or by the lawyer to whom it was granted the power of representation by empowerment must be submitted to the company in original, signed and, where appropriate, stamped, together with the general empowerment form no later than 48 hours before the general meeting of shareholders (October 31, 2020, 10:00 hours), in case of its first use.

Shareholders may grant an empowerment generally valid for a period not exceeding three years, allowing the designated representative to vote on all matters discussed in the general meeting of shareholders provided that the general empowerment is being given by the shareholder, as a client, to an intermediary as defined in art. 2 par. (1) pt. 20 of Law no. 24/2017, or to a lawyer.

Shareholders may not be represented at the general meeting of shareholders, based on a general empowerment, by a person who is in a conflict of interest, pursuant to the provisions of art. 92 par. (15) of Law no. 24/2017.

General empowerment shall be submitted to the Company 48 hours before the general meeting (no later than October 31, 2020, 10:00 hours), in copy, including the statement of compliance with the original, under the representative’s signature.

Before submitting the special or general empowerments, shareholders may notify the Company about the appointment of a representative, by sending an e-mail to aga@sif1.ro.

Shareholders have the option to vote by correspondence prior to the general meeting of shareholders, by using the correspondence voting forms provided by the company.

The correspondence voting forms will be available in Romanian and English, beginning October 3, 2020, at company’s headquarters, company's branch office at the addresses presented herein and on company’s website, www.sif1.ro.

Subject to losing the voting right in case of default, the ballots for the vote by correspondence duly filled in and signed by the shareholders, together with all accompanying documents, shall be sent to company’s headquarters in Arad, 35A Calea Victoriei, to be registered no later than October 31, 2020, 10:00 hours, either:

· by any courier service, the correspondence voting form in original, printed on paper;

· by e-mail - with the extended electronic signature incorporated in accordance with Law no. 455/2001 on the electronic signature at aga@sif1.ro.

To send the special empowerment forms, the correspondence voting forms and the accompanying documents by post or any type of courier services, the following requirements shall be observed:

· the special empowerment or the correspondence voting form, duly filled in and signed in the original by the shareholder, shall be inserted into an envelope writing on it clearly and with capital letters: “Special empowerment / correspondence voting form – name, surname / corporate name of the shareholder”;

· the above-mentioned envelope, together with the rest of the accompanying documents shall be sent to the Company in an envelope having clearly written with capital letters “PENTRU AGA” / “FOR GMS”.

If a shareholder voted by sending a correspondence voting form, but then attends the general meeting either personally or through a representative, the vote cast by correspondence shall be annulled. In this case, only the direct vote or the vote expressed through the representative shall be taken into consideration.

If the person representing the shareholder by personal participation in the general meeting is other than the person which has cast his vote by correspondence, then for the validity of his/her vote, will present at the meeting a written revocation signed by the shareholder or by the representative who cast his vote by correspondence. This is not necessary if the shareholder or his/her legal representative is present at the general meeting.

The Board of Directors of the Company will provide a detailed procedure for direct vote, vote by special / general empowerment, or voting by correspondence, and the documents necessary to be submitted by the shareholders in order to exercise their vote in each manner. This mandatory procedure will be available for inspection at company’s headquarters office, branch office and on company’s website beginning October 3, 2020.

Shall be considered null the special/general empowerments forms and correspondence voting forms non-compliant as per the time for their transmittal to the company as mentioned in the Convening Notice and those not complying with the legal and statutory provisions and the procedure established by the Board of Directors.

If a shareholder is represented by a credit institution providing custody services, this may vote in the general meeting of shareholders based on the voting instructions received by electronic means of communication, without the need for a special or general empowerment granted by the shareholder. The custodians shall vote in the general meeting of shareholders exclusively in accordance with, and within the limits of the instructions received from their clients as shareholders at the reference date. In such circumstances, in order to be able to participate and vote in the general meeting, the credit institution providing custody services submits to the Company a statement on its own responsibility given by the legal representative of the credit institution, stating that:

i) in clear, the name of the shareholder on whose behalf the credit institution attends and votes in the general meeting of shareholders;

ii) the credit institution provides custody services for that shareholder;

Subject to losing the voting right, the voting documents together with all the accompanying documents shall be sent to the headquarters of the company in Arad, Calea Victoriei, nr. 35A to be registered until October 31, 2020, 10:00 hours, in original, by any courier service or by e-mail, at aga@sif1.ro, with embedded extended electronic signature as per Law no. 455/2001 on electronic signature.

In case there will be requests for the amendment of the agenda of the meeting and the agenda will be published in a revised form, the special empowerment forms and the correspondence voting forms will be updated and made available to shareholders beginning October 20, 2020.

Beginning October 3, 2020, all the informative materials for the topics on the agenda of the meetings, and the draft resolutions submitted for the approval of the general meetings, will be made available for the shareholders at Company’s headquarters on working days between 14:00 and 16:00 hours.

All the informative materials for the general meeting will be available on Company’s website www.sif1.ro, as well as at SIF Banat-Crisana’s headquarters office in Arad, and company's Bucharest branch office, at the following addresses:

· Headquarters, Arad, 35A Calea Victoriei, tel: +40257 304 438

· Bucharest branch, Sector 2, 46-48 S.V. Rahmaninov Street, 3rd floor, tel: +4021 311 16 47.

 

 

Chairman of the Board of Directors, Bogdan-Alexandru DRAGOI                                  

Compliance Officer, Eugen Cristea