Local investment fund Fondul Proprietatea (FP), which is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange, started its sixth share repurchase program on September 9. The fund’s shares gained 4.5% on this news.

Fondul Proprietatea plans to buy back almost 8% of its total number of shares or global depository receipts (GDRs). The total value of the buyback program is about EUR 160 million, considering the current share price.

Czech brokerage house Wood manages the buybacks on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and American bank Goldman Sachs does the GDR buybacks on the London Stock Exchange, the fund announced. The program, which the fund’s shareholders approved at the end of April, should be finalized by November 15, next year.

The fund will cancel the repurchased shares and reduce its capital in order to lower the discount at which its shares are trading compared to its net asset value (NAV) per share, which is currently about 33%.

More than half of the fund’s shares are currently held by foreign institutional investors. American hedging fund Elliott holds over 20% of the fund’s voting rights.

editor@romania-insider.com