Franklin Templeton Investment Management Ltd. UK, sole manager of Fondul Proprietatea, presented its strategy to list the fund’s shares in Warsaw.
The British manager selected a consortium formed of J.P. Morgan, UniCredit Group and KBC Securities to assist with the public offering, whose costs are estimated at around 10.7 million lei (EUR2.4 million).
“With a market value of over EUR1.5 billion, the fund aims to be among the top 15 largest companies listed on the WSE in terms of market capitalization and as such will benefit from increased visibility among international institutional investors, including Polish pension and mutual funds,” Franklin Templeton said in a rationale to its proposed action plan.
The proposal was cleared in principle at a shareholder meeting early April and will receive a final vote on June 27.
At the recommendation of the brokerage consortium, Fondul Proprietatea will initially launch a technical listing on the Warsaw exchange, followed by one or more placements of shares by existing stockholders in the fund. A technical listing is a listing without simultaneous offering of shares.
“Following the technical listing on the WSE, the fund and the consortium will seek to support the diversification of the fund’s shareholder base,” Franklin Templeton said.
Fondul Proprietatea was set up in 2005 to compensate Romanians whose properties were seized during communism.
Mid-May, foreign investors held 55.2% of the fund’s shares, while residents had 40.4%.
On the Bucharest bourse Friday, Fondul Proprietatea closed up 1.22% at RON0.49 a share. (EUR1=RON4.4646)