US firm Manchester Securities reaches 6.6% ownership in Romania's Fondul Proprietatea

American investment company Manchester Securities Corp. has reached a 6.61 percent share package in Romania's Fondul Proprietatea, with 886 million shares in the company, according to a statement sent to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, where the fund's shares are floating (symbol FP). Manchester Securities Corp. is one of the investors with more than 5 percent in the fund. The other investors are the Ministry of Public Finance, with 5 percent of the shares and Georgia Palade von Dusen, with 6.68 percent. City of London, on behalf of its clients, also controls 5.85 percent of Fondul Proprietatea. Manchester Securities is an investment firm controlled by Elliott Associates, L.P. Romania’s investment fund Fondul Proprietatea posted a profit of EUR 127 million in the first half of 2011. With assets of EUR 3.8 billion, Fondul Proprietatea invested 3.5 percent of its net asset in the banking sector. The fund has also invested around EUR 83 million in shares on the Austrian stock market. Launched in December 2005, Fondul Proprietatea was created to compensate the Romanian citizens whose properties were confiscated by the former communist regime. Following an international auction announced in December 2008, Franklin Templeton won in July 2009 the EUR 4.06 billion mandate of Fondul Proprietatea. Franklin Templeton officially took over the role of investment manager and administrator of the Fund on September 29, 2010. Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com