Bucharest Stock Exchange approves Fondul Proprietatea prospect, listing set for January 25

Six years after the Fondul Proprietatea was created, the Bucharest Stock Exchange has approved the Fondul Proprietatea listing on the spot regulated market from January 25, according to Franklin Templeton, the fund manager. The listing will be carried through without an initial public offering (IPO). The shares will be traded on the BSE under the symbol FP. A presentation for all shareholders will be organized on January 17, from 12,00 hours, at Radisson Blu hotel in Bucharest, Atlas room. The brokerage consortium which worked on the Fondul Proprietatea listing prospect was made of Raiffeisen Capital Investment (Lead Manager), BRD Groupe Société Générale, ING Bank. Schoenherr and White & Case were the legal consultants for the project. Get the Fondul Proprietatea prospect hereand other documents here. The fund has a share capital of RON 13.7 billion and 13.7 billion shares, which consists mainly of kind contributions from the Romanian state: share packages in listed and unlisted companies. The fund's portfolio is made of 54 unlisted companies and 29 listed companies. The top ten portfolio companies are OMV Petrom, where the fund owns 20.10 percent, 19.94 percent in Hidroelectrica, 14.9 percent in Romgaz, 20 percent in CN Aeroporturi Bucuresti, 9.72 percent in Nuclearelectrica, 14.98 percent in Transgaz, Complexul Energetic Turceni, Enel Distributie Muntenia, GDF Suez Energy Romania, Enel Distributie Banat. The fund's holdings are concentrated in the energy sector – around 80 percent, followed by oil and gas, transport and other sectors. The value of the fund's assets is of EUR 3.5 billion. The fund's revenues consist in dividends from the companies where it holds shares, as well as from the investment activity it carries on through various financial instruments. In 2009, the fund sold its stakes in several companies: Centrofarm, CEZ Distributie, CEZ Vanzare, CEZ Servicii and Petrom Aviation. The state holds 41.4 percent of the Fondul Proprietatea, the rest being owned by private persons and companies. In December lats year, there were over 3,000 individual shareholders and companies. Of these, Loreen Malaxa, Georgia Von Dusen Palade and Theodore Palade, the heirs of the Romanian industrialist Nicolae Malaxa (1884-1965), hold 7.3 percent of the share capital. Fondul Proprietatea was created in 2005 as a joint stock company with a special purpose to provide compensation to the persons whose real estate assets have been confiscated abusively by the Romanian state during the communist regime and which can no longer receive restitution in kind. The existing shareholders currently hold conversion titles, which will be changed into shares at the nominal value of the share – RON 1. The conversion procedure will be suspended 10 days before the first trading day, on January 25, and will be re-started after 60 trading sessions. After the conversion will be resumed, the conversion rate will be based on the average market price of the shares. Franklin Templeton was appointed fund manager in July 2009. The company has set up an office in Bucharest last year and currently employs 24 people in Romania.