ASTRA - Reaction to the information communicated by the BVB

Within the meaning of the information received from the majority shareholder of Astra Asigurări, respectively The Nova Group Investments Romania, Astra Asigurări has requested the suspension of trading in accordance with the capital market legislation, in order to protect the investors’ interests and to prevent the drop in the price of ASTRA shares.

An unfortunate association was made between bankruptcy and enforcement of judgment. Enforcement of judgmentis only a manner of performing a receivable and not the filing for insolvency of a company that is ceasing its payments. As a matter of fact, it deals with the enforcement of judgmentof the majority shareholder, The Nova Group Investments, by one of its creditors, by the escrowed shares held by a third party, respectively the shares issued by Astra Asigurări.

“The company’s activity is not affected by this and it has nothing to do with the current operations, but only those on the trading of shares on the Bucharest Stock Market”, declared Mr. Radu Mustăţea, President of the ASTRA Asigurări Directorate.

Furthermore, there is an excessive difference between the value of the claimed receivable and the market value of ASTRA Asigurări shares. The receivable value is approximately lei 22 million and it results from a very old litigation, in 2006, between A.V.A.S. and The Nova Group Investments România, the majority shareholder of ASTRA, with no relation to the activity of the ASTRA Asigurări company.

About Astra Asigurări

ASTRA Asigurări is the No. 1 company on the Romanian insurance market, a market leader on the aviation, property and vehicle liability insurance segments. The company has focused especially on the retail segment and it has developed interconnection partnerships with some of the most important brokers.

The Romanian insurance market leader registered the following results at the end of the third quarter:

- an increase of the net accounting profit by 331% compared to the similar period in 2009 - from lei 4,179,465 to lei 18,005,629;

- the volume of the total subscribed gross premiums net of direct cancellations and re-insurance establishments (life and non-life) registered by the company after the first 9 months of 2010 amount to lei 841,244,960, of which lei 829,873,348 is the volume of the gross premiums subscribed to general insurance, registering a 37% increase compared to the third quarter in 2009.

The company has the widest sales network on the insurance market, with over 270 branches, agencies and points of service at a national level and a portfolio of over 60 types of products on general, life and health insurance, with multiple versions, meeting its clients’ widest range of insurance options.

Press Office: adriana.constantinescu@astrasig.ro

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