Fondul Proprietatea shareholders elect Van Groningen, Rymaszewski and Healy to board of representatives

Steven van Groningen (in picture) and Piotr Rymaszewski, the two candidates proposed by American investment fund Elliott, as well as Julian Healy, put forward by shareholder City of London, were elected to the board of representatives for Fondul Proprietatea investment fund in Romania. Van Groningen is the president of Raiffeisen Bank in Romania and head of the Foreign Investors Council in Romania. The three recent nominees will join Sorin Midrutescu, the head of Oracle Romania and recently voted president of AmCham, and Cristian Busu, who were already on the board. Fondul Proprietatea shareholders are currently attending their annual general meeting, and will further vote on the recent proposal to increase the fee for fund manager Franklin Templeton if it sells the fund’s participation in some Romanian companies in the next three years. Elliott is the largest shareholder in Fondul Proprietatea, with 13.9 percent of the shares while City of London has 7 percent of the shares. Fondul Proprietatea has recently indicated that it wants to sell its stakes in several energy companies in Romania, where it controls minority packages. The total value of these holdings is EUR 527 million, or 15 percent of the fund’s net asset value. The fund was created to compensate the owners of properties confiscated during the communist period, in cases where compensation was no longer possible in kind. The fund’s portfolio is focused on the electrical energy sector, oil and natural gas – around 88 percent of its net assets. The biggest unlisted company in its portfolio of shares is Hidroelectrica, while the biggest listed company where Fondul Proprietatea owns shares is OMV Petrom. Fondul Proprietatea is managed by Franklin Templeton, and is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, symbol FP. editor@romania-insider.com