Fondul Proprietatea’s buyback program was launched October 15 and was initially scheduled to be completed on November 4.
The fund announced plans to repurchase 600 million shares at 1 leu (EUR0.244) a share, which is 20.4% higher than the latest market price of RON0.797 a share. Its offer was oversubscribed as of October 16.
By late Thursday, Fondul Proprietatea was tendered 887.7 million shares in response to its offer, equal to 6.45% of the fund’s shares.
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 an 18% stake, followed by US bank Morgan Stanley with 5%.
At the end of September, Fondul Proprietatea had net assets worth RON14.92 billion. (EUR1=RON4.4511)