Regional investment funds SIFs, the largest local shareholders of Fondul Proprietatea, are richer by RON17.3 million (EUR4 million).
The beginning of the month was unexpectedly good for stock exchange investors, with major rises for most companies. The shares of Fondul Proprietatea rose by 7.8% in the first two weeks of August, from a price of RON0.6495 to a historic high of RON0.7. The rise was driven by acquisitions made by foreign funds and brokers expect the fund’s share price to stabilize at RON0.7.
“Foreign institutional investors are currently active in the market on FP shares. The external context is favorable, on the stock exchange companies reported good financial results, so FP shares took advantage of investor optimism,” said Rares Nilas, general manager of broker BT Securities.
The main winners of the appreciation of Fondul Proprietatea shares have been US hedge fund Elliott Associates, which owns over 18% in Fondul Proprietatea, and the UK investment funds of City of London, with a 9.43% stake in Fondul Proprietatea. The 7.8% share rise boosted Elliott’s stake by RON100 million to RON1.7 billion. City of London funds saw their stake increase by RON70 million to RON909 million.
The largest local institutional investors of Fondul Proprietatea are the five SIFs, which together own 2.5% of the shares. SIF Moldova is the largest investor among the SIFs, with a 1.3% stake in the fund, and gained the most from the share rise. The value of the stake held by SIF Moldova went up by RON9.5 million to RON189 million. Overall, the stakes held by the five SIFs gained RON17.4 million from the rise of the fund’s shares in the past two weeks.
“The price of FP shares is approaching a relatively fair value in relation to the value of net portfolio assets. I expect the price to stabilize at RON0.7,” Nilas adds.
The fund’s shares are traded at a 40% discount, considering that the net asset value per unit was RON1.16 at the end of July. This year Fondul Proprietatea shares have gone up by 27.4% and the trading discount narrowed from 52% to 40% at present.
After the first six months of the year the fund reported a net profit of RON514.6 million, having collected dividends of RON604 million from the companies in its portfolio. From OMV Petrom (SNP.RO) the fund collected dividends of RON319 million, from Romgaz it got RON158.9 million and from Transgaz it collected RON37.6 million.
Compared with the first half of last year, the profit of Fondul Proprietatea was 10% lower. It was driven down by the fact that the fund took a loss from selling a 1.1% stake in Petrom for RON246 million in May. With the exception of the sale of Petrom shares, the fund did not make any significant changes to its portfolio in the first half of the year.
The fund’s current revenues amounted to RON874.8 million in the first six months, 3% higher than in the same period of last year. According to the half-year report, the fund had net liquidity of RON900 million.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)