Fondul Proprietatea (FP) completed the transaction by which it sold its 12% stake in Engie Romania to the company’s majority shareholder, for 432.6 million lei (87 million euros), according to a FP report published on the Stock Exchange Bucharest (BVB) site.
The money will be used to manage the fund’s discount, which essentially means paying dividends and buying back its shares. “When proposing any measure such as the Discount Control Mechanism, the FP administrator will also consider the current and potential funding requirements over a foreseeable time horizon, under the current size and profile of risk of the fund,” states the report prepared by Franklin Templeton, the FP administrator.
Last week, the fund’s shareholders approved the transaction with Engie, which had been signed by the FP administrator last December, as well as a program to buy back up to one billion of its shares (in the form of securities listed on the BSE or Global Depository Receipts listed in London), the equivalent of almost 18% of the Fund’s capital, at prices between 0.2 lei and 1 lei for the BSE securities.
Instead, the proposal to sell all or some parts of FP’s shares in the companies Aeroporturi Bucharest, Constanţa Port, Salrom and Alro, under certain conditions, was rejected by the fund’s shareholders. Johan Meyer, CEO of Franklin Templeton Bucharest and Portfolio Manager of Fondului Proprietatea, emphasized that the shareholders’ decision does not prevent the administrator from preparing transactions related to the fund’s holdings.
The Revenue and Expenditure Budget for this year includes costs estimated at 8.2 million lei related to the Salrom listing, which include various commissions, fees, marketing expenses, etc. “Except for the listing of the National Salt Company, no specific transaction is contemplated or anticipated as of the date of this document,” the BVC states.
