The crown jewels of the Proprietatea Fund, presented to the foreigners

Foreign investors have come to Romania so they can see on site what the Proprietatea Fund has in its portfolio, especially since in the beginning of the month, its shareholders have asked for the speed-up of the liquidation of its holdings.

On Monday and Tuesday, Franklin Templeton hosted the "Spring 2012 Analyst and Investor Day", and took the foreigners to visit the Craiova Energy Complex, to Porţile de Fier (Hidroelectrica), and to see the Nuclearelectrica plant.

The foreigners were also presented OMV Petrom, Romgaz, Enel Distribuţie Muntenia, GDF Suez Energy and Transgaz.

One participant noted that what was important was that the event was also attended by the investors who have not yet entered Romania.

American investment company "Prince Street", specializing on frontier and emerging markets, actually showed interest in investing in Romania.

The Prince Street funds of David Halpert have around 400 million dollars in assets.

Also present were the representatives of the Firebird funds, who already have Romanian holdings.

The organizers' plan was to attract more investors to the Proprietatea Fund, according to an investor.

The foreigners came up with very precise enquiries, in order to find out the stage of the government's privatization program.

Some of the people in the room have told us that not all of the answers and questions were satisfying. Some of the participants have commented that the unlisted companies would need to learn more about how to interact with investors and they could really use having professional investor relations departments.

In the beginning of the month, the sale of the assets of the "Proprietatea Fund" (symbol: FP) got the approval of the shareholders, who have decided to increase the fee of "Franklin Templeton" if it speeds up the liquidation of the stakes of the "Proprietatea Fund".

Even though this proposal was criticized by some of the market experts who consider that that would basically lead to a dismantlement of the Fund, the shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favor of it.

In mid February, through "Manchester Securities", American hedge fund "Elliott Associates" proposed that "Franklin Templeton" sell the assets of the "Proprietatea Fund" and the money obtained be distributed to the shareholders. The manager of the "Proprietatea Fund" would earn a commission of 1.5% of the amounts earned between 2012 and 2013, and 1% starting in 2014.

The representatives of Elliott did not miss out the event of "Franklin Templeton".

On December 22nd, the Court of Bucharest invalidated the decision of the shareholders by which "Franklin Templeton" was appointed the manager of the "Proprietatea Fund", but Franklin Templeton appealed the decision.