The figure is exclusive of brokerage fees and other acquisition related costs, Fondul Proprietatea said in a statement.
The fund repurchased a little over 1.1 billion of its own shares via the program, which included daily acquisitions on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and a tender offer for 600 million shares.
Franklin Templeton, the sole administrator of Fondul Proprietatea, has called on the fund’s shareholders to approve a share capital decrease by cancelling the shares purchased during the second buyback program at a meeting scheduled for February 3.
Additionally, the fund plans to start a third buyback program, approved by shareholders on 22 November 2013, “as soon as the shareholders’ resolution is published in the Official Gazette and the Financial Supervisory Authority endorses the cancelation of the shares bought back during the first buy-back program,” Fondul Proprietatea said.
Under the new program, the fund plans to repurchase up to 252.8 million of its own shares at a price range of RON0.2 to RON1.5 a share.
Fondul Proprietatea was set up in 2005 to compensate Romanians whose properties were seized during communism. U.S. hedging fund Elliott Associates is the fund’s largest shareholder, with a 17% stake, followed by US bank Morgan Stanley with 5%.
At around 12:40 pm, Fondul Proprietatea’s shares traded up 0.96% at RON0.843 in Bucharest, amid a rising market. (EUR1=RON4.4749)