Franklin Templeton: Proprietatea Fund listing delayed if Govt. doesn't name administrator soon

The stock exchange floating planned for Proprietatea Fund in September could be delayed by year-end or even next year if the Romanian government continues to delay naming Franklin Templeton official administrator of the fund, although it signed the administration contract in February this year. The Romanian government needs to enact the legislation needed for the investment management firm to become the administrator of the fund. The firm will then need around three months to prepare the fund's listing on an international stock market, according to its representatives. Franklin Templeton says the entire infrastructure needed for Proprietatea Fund to work has already been put in place. Mark Mobius (in picture), executive president of Franklin Templeton Asset Management says the company has already spent around $3 million on setting up the Romanian office and working on the Proprietatea Fund project. Franklin Templeton has invested around $50 million so far in Romania in listed shares, as well as in direct stakes in companies in the oil and gas sector, according to Mark Mobius. These investments were independent from the company's involvement in Proprietatea Fund. Proprietatea Fund was created in 2005 was a means to compensate former owners whose properties were confiscated during the communist regime and which cannot be redeemed in nature. The Fund has participation in 88 companies, most of which in the energy sector. The Fund's listing on the stock exchange has been delayed one year to another. Listing 20 percent of the Fund's shares should attract $ 500 million, according to Franklin Templeton representatives.