“It will be difficult for the Board of Directors of Universal Bank to reject an offer of 90 cents per share, when it has already accepted a lower offer by Schoeller-Path”, Aspis AEGA Deputy General Manager, Vasilieos Adamopoulos stated in his interview to StockWatch. Schoeller Holdings and Path Holdings had submitted a Public Offer of £0.74 and £0.86 cents per share, however, the plans collapsed since the Central Bank of Cyprus never gave its permission. This gave Aspis Group the green light (via Aspis AEGA and Commercial Value) to submit a public offer on July 31 for the acquisition of 50% plus 1 share of the share capital of USB. The Board of Directors of Universal Life, which holds 61% of the share capital of USB, did not approve the business pursuits of the Greek Group and on August 11 it announced that the acquisition of a majority stake in Universal Bank is not in line with the strategic goals of the Group.

However, this was not an obstacle to the plans of the Greek Group, since Aspis AEGA and Commercial Value announced that they will submit a Public Offer this week, pursuant to the CSE Regulations.

Mr. Georgiou has an influence

Mr. Adamopoulos also noted that Mr. Andreas Georgiou cannot control the majority of UL shares since he is a minority shareholder but he has a powerful influence and a heavy opinion. “If the Public Offer is unsuccessful, Aspis Group will probably submit a second offer at a later stage. Sooner or later, the Board of Directors will have to accept the offer since Mr. Georgiou will have to decide to sell his shares due to the agreement with the Bank of Cyprus for the acquisition of the stake that it holds”, Mr. Georgiou stressed.

Confidence

Mr. Adamopoulos expressed his confidence that the Boards of Directors of USB and UL will decide to the benefit of all shareholders, in accordance with the corporate governance rules.

Plan

As for the 5-year business plan of USB, Mr. Adamopoulos said that Mr. Georgiou has been handed a draft only and not the complete plan, which has been submitted to the Central Bank and the Board of Directors of USB (not UL).

No dismissals

Mr. Adamopoulos said that there are no redundancies in the Company, while Aspis will submit capital of £2 million - £8 million to USB.

“At the current stage, the Greek Group will proceed via the acquisition, which is a faster method than autonomous growth.