Following the court’s verdict, Fondul Proprietatea’s shares were suspended from trading in Bucharest.
In December 2011, a Bucharest court admitted in part a request filed by Ioana Sfaraiala, a shareholder of Fondul Proprietatea, to annul some of the decisions taken at a shareholder meeting held September 6, 2010.
Sfaraiala argued the fund had failed to publish a bill to amend its bylaws in the legal timeframe, thus voiding Franklin Templeton’s appointment as sole administrator of the fund.
The court decided to annul Franklin Templeton’s appointment, as well as the shareholders’ decisions to dismiss the board of the fund and to elect the members of the Representatives Committee.
Franklin Templeton filed an appeal with the appellate court, but the latter rejected the appeal Tuesday.
Fondul Proprietatea was set up in 2005 to compensate Romanians whose properties were seized during communism.
The fund owns shares in around 70 companies, including dominant oil company OMV Petrom (SNP.RO), natural gas producer Romgaz and nuclear power company Nuclearelectrica.