The management of Privredna Banka Zagreb (PBZ) on Monday decided to launch the procedure for the withdrawal of its shares from the Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) and and it is now on the general assembly of the bank's shareholders to endorse the decision, the commercial lender said in a press release.

The management’s decision on de-listing was made today with the approval of the supervisory board.

The shareholders who will vote against the de-listing can request that the bank buys their shares at an equitable price in compliance with the relevant legislation, PBZ explains in the press release.

The equitable compensation is the weighted average price of the PBZ share in the three months prior to the announcement of the invitation for the general assembly.

PBZ is the second largest bank on the Croatian market, and is owned by the Italian Intensa Sanpaolo group that holds 97.5% of shares in PBZ. Other minority shareholders are compulsory and voluntary pension funds and some others.

In the first nine months of 2020, Privredna Banka Zagreb’s profit after tax totalled HRK 578.9 million, down 52.5% on the year, according to a financial statement released on 30 October.

As with other banks, PBZ’s business was strongly affected by the coronavirus crisis.

The PBZ Group’s profit after tax totalled HRK 736.7 million, down 43.7% from the first nine months of 2019.