Bank Austria seeks special audits of ‘3 Banks Group’

Bloomberg

UniCredit SpA’s Austrian unit is requesting special audits of at least one of the lenders comprising the 3 Banks Group, saying it broke corporate law and governance rules for years.
UniCredit Bank Austria AG is demanding the audit of six share issues at BKS Bank AG, one of the three banks, according to a motion for the May 8 general meeting published on BKS’s website.
The motion said BKS effectively injected funds into itself over the past 25 years rather than increased its share capital.
The 3 Banks Group members hold shares in each other as part of a decades-
old pact to protect against takeovers. While Bank Austria is the biggest investor in each of the three banks, it can’t outvote the companies under the terms of these pacts, a fact that has frustrated UniCredit’s efforts to sell the stakes.
Voiding the past capital injections by the 3 Banks Group’s members, even only partially, would tilt voting rights in UniCredit’s favour.