Elliot Associates, Fondul Proprietatea’s largest shareholder, will receive 139 million lei (EUR31.2 million) for the shares sold, exchange data showed Monday.
Following the deal, the US fund’s holdings in Fondul Proprietatea will drop to a little over 17%, from around 18% previously.
Fondul Proprietatea’s buyback program was launched October 15 and was completed November 14. The fund’s offer to repurchase 4.35% of its own shares was oversubscribed nearly 18 times.
The purchase price was set at RON1 a share, valuing the stake on offer at RON600 million (EUR134.8 million). The price is 20% higher than the close price on Friday, of RON0.8 a share.
Fondul Proprietatea was set up in 2005 to compensate Romanians whose properties were seized during communism. The fund’s shareholder structure includes, among others, U.S. bank Morgan Stanley, with a little over 5%, and investment manager City of London with 4.87%.
The two shareholders have yet to announce whether they sold any of their shares in Fondul Proprietatea during the latter’s buyback offer. (EUR1=RON4.4462)