Romanian businessman Sever Mureșan sued First Bank Romania, asking to become its majority shareholder, based on a 1995 sentence related to Banca Dacia Felix, which was taken over in 1997 by Eurom Bank and later by Bank Leumi, Piraeus Bank, and First Bank, Profit.ro reported.

Last autumn, Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy's largest bank, signed an agreement with JC Flowers & Co. to buy First Bank Romania, a transaction estimated at around EUR 150 million. 

Mureșan invokes a decision dating from December 1995, when the Board of Banca Dacia Felix canceled the shares owned by Mureșan’s investment vehicles Astra Română Capital and Sita Investment. He claims that the Board members were not legally endorsed, and this was ruled by a court decision in 1996.

The decision by which Astra Română Capital's participation in Banca Dacia Felix was canceled was never challenged in court. Now, the representatives of the law firm Călinescu & Asociații, which represents Sever Mureșan, appealed this decision to the Bucharest Court on the grounds that it contains a cause of absolute nullity.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Lenutaidi/Dreamstime.com)