Is Bank of Cyprus ready for post-shakeup AGM?

With just a few days to go to the first shareholders meeting that will determine the future leadership of the Bank of Cyprus, the bank’s saga does not seem to let up with stakeholders undecided if they will seek legal action to recover their interest that has been diluted after the bank’s new share structure.
Lawyers for ‘legacy Laiki’ shareholders seem to have had second thoughts about lobbying for control of the Bank of Cyprus new board that will come out of the general meeting next Tuesday. On the other hand, original BOCY shareholders, including the Church of Cyprus, who have seen their stake diluted to below 1%, seem to have had cold feet over initial plans to secure a court order to block the general meeting and reinstate their stake.
Holders of debt securities have warned members to avoid taking part in the general meeting or any other meetings where their holding may be compromised and they might lose any prospect of compensation.
Whatever the outcome, the names for the new board of directors will have to be submitted by this Thursday and the general meeting will only deal with the election of a new board. They will then review the McKinsey report on the bank’s restructuring that has already been submitted to the BOCY management, while the audited group results for FY2012 will be reviewed by the new board on October 10.
Most of the current interim board members appointed by the Central Bank as the resolution authority, as well as CEO Christos Sorotos had until recently expressed an interest to stay on.
The bank announced that its share capital as at August 30, 2013 amounted to 4,698,219,049 euros divided into 4,698,219,049 ordinary shares of a nominal value of 1.00 each, of which 81.4% is held by 21,000 shareholders arising from the conversion of unsecured deposits. A further 0.5% is held by 88,000 former BOCY shareholders and 18.1% is held by the ‘legacy Laiki’ following Popular Laiki’s closure and absorption into BOCY.
Meanwhile, Bank of Cyprus has already hired Blackstone Group International Partners to review all options regarding its Ukraine subsidiary, PJSC Bank of Cyprus, in which it holds a 99.7% stake.