Fund manager discards Warsaw listing for Romania's Fondul Proprietatea, looks at London, NY instead

Romanian investment fund Fondul Proprietatea will no longer seek to list its shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, as was initially intended, but instead could start floating on the London or New York stock exchanges. The announcement was made by fund manager Greg Konieczny of Franklin Templeton. “We will not ask for an extended deadline to list on the Warsaw Stock Exchange […] because the regulator did not want to change the rules for the secondary listing,”said Konieczny. Fondul Proprietatea is already listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, and the fund managers are currently looking for an easier way to list on other markets, including London and New York. “The nationalization of pension funds in Warsaw made us change our minds. In the first quarter of next year we will announce the proposals,” said the fund manager at the shareholders' meeting which took place on Friday morning (November 22) at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bucharest. Fondul Proprietatea was created in 2005 as a joint stock company with a special purpose to provide compensation to the people whose real estate assets had been confiscated by the Romanian state during the communist regime and who can no longer receive restitution in kind. Romanian investment fund Fondul Proprietatea recorded a net profit of some EUR 117 million (RON 514 million) in the first half of 2013, a year-on-year decrease of some 10 percent, while its revenues from current activity went up 3 percent, to around EUR 222 million (RON 874 million). Fondul Proprietatea’s revenues from financial assets went down to EUR 137 million (RON 604 million), and “represent dividend income earned from the Fund’s portfolio companies, mainly from OMV Petrom - RON 319 million, Romgaz - RON 158.9 million and Transgaz - RON 37.6 million,” reads the fund’s report. As of June 30, Fondul Proprietatea’s portfolio included holdings in 66 companies, 24 listed and 42 unlisted. The fund’s portfolio is focused on the power, oil and gas sectors – around 89.5 percent of its net assets. The biggest unlisted company in its portfolio is Hidroelectrica, while the biggest listed company in which Fondul Proprietatea owns shares is OMV Petrom. editor@romania-insider.com