Stake in Romania's Fondul Proprietatea sells for almost EUR 20 mln

Four share packages totaling 110 million shares in Romanian investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (BVB ticker: FP) sold on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) for almost EUR 20 million. This represents 0.8 percent of the fund. This is the largest transaction with Fondul Proprietatea shares this year and also one of the largest deals on the BVB. Fondul Proprietatea currently trades at RON 0.7985 per share, which is almost 35 percent lower than the fund’s NAV (net asset value) per share, which stood at RON 1.22, at the end of April, according to the fund’s monthly update. Fondul Proprietatea is the largest closed end fund of this type in the world, according to American group Franklin Templeton, which manages the fund’s EUR 3.3 billion in net assets. The fund was created by the Romanian Government in 2005 with the main purpose of compensating the people whose properties were nationalized by the communist regime or their successors. The fund was listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange in January 2011 and since then, foreign investment funds have taken 54 percent of the fund’s shares, with investments totaling over EUR one billion. The fund’s largest shareholder is US hedge fund Elliott, with a 15 percent stake. Fondul Proprietatea currently has a market capitalization of EUR 2.47 billion and is the most traded company on the BVB, with over EUR 2 million daily turnover. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com