Fondul Proprietatea gets dealt another blow by Sfîrăială

• The court has admitted the request of lawyer Ioana Sfîrăială to delete the record of the decision of the General Shareholder Meeting by which Franklin Templeton was appointed manager of the Proprietatea Fund

• The Fund won't give up and will appeal the ruling

Lawyer Ioana Sfîrăială has won another battle with the Proprietatea Fund, as the court ruled in her favor in one of the 54 lawsuits.

The court of Bucharest yesterday admitted the request of Ioana Sfîrăială to delete from the de Trade Registry the registration of the decisions of the General Shareholder Meetings by which Franklin Templeton was appointed the manager of the Proprietatea Fund, according to a press release sent yesterday by the latter.

The representatives of the Proprietatea Fund also said that the decision of the court is not irrevocable, so it has been challenged with an appeal.

The press release of the Proprietatea Fund states that in the case no. 40330/3/2012, of December 17th 2012, the Court of Bucharest published on its own IT program (ECRIS) accessed directly at the headquarter of Bucharest a brief decision. The Court ruled against the Fund and it has decided to grant the request of the plaintiff (ed. note: Ioana Sfîrăială) to delete the records and the mentions made by the Trade Registry of the Decisions of the Extraordinary General Shareholder Meeting no. 1, 2, 8 and 9 of September 6th, 2010. It is important to mention that the ruling issued by the Court of Bucharest is not final.

Ioana Sfîrăială has disputed the decisions of the General Shareholder Meeting, by which the management system of the Proprietatea Fund was changed from directorate and supervisory board to single manager - Franklin Templeton -, as well as the election of a Committee of the Representatives of Shareholders, claiming that the draft to amend the articles of incorporation of the company was not published within the legal delays, 30 days prior to the General Shareholder Meeting.

The Proprietatea Fund also mentions that the version of the articles of incorporation which the ruling issued by the Court on Monday is not the one currently in effect, because the shareholders of the Fund approved new versions of the Articles of Incorporation with a vast majority as part of the General Shareholder Meetings ("AGA") of November 29th, 2010, November 23rd, 2011, April 4th, 2012 and November 23rd 2012.

Ioana Sfîrăială has disputed most of the decisions of the General Shareholder Meetings of the Fund dating back to October 2010, arguing that Franklin Templeton had no right to summon the General Shareholder Meeting because it is not the manager of the Fund.

In October, the Bucharest Court of Appeal rendered an irrevocable ruling by which it invalidated the General Shareholder Meeting decision of September 2010, by which its articles of incorporation were amended, and later Franklin Templeton was appointed as the manager of the Proprietatea Fund. Thus, the Court upheld the ruling of the Court of Bucharest, rendered on December 21st, 2011, which acknowledged the absolute nullity of the decisions of the General Shareholder Meeting of the Proprietatea Fund of September 6th, 2010.

After the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Franklin Templeton announced that it would continue to manage the Proprietatea Fund, according to the current bylaws, as it considers that the version of the articles of incorporation which the ruling of the court makes reference to is not the one that is currently in effect.

The shareholders of the Proprietatea Fund have repeatedly reconfirmed the decisions of the General Shareholder Meeting made since September 2010, even more, Franklin Templeton informed that Manchester Securities, the biggest shareholder of the Fund, has filed requests for intervention in the interest of the Fund in the three litigations it has with with Ioana Sfîrăială.