By 3:00 pm Friday, investors had offered to sell 1.505 billion shares, well above the 600 million shares the fund announced it was willing to buy back.
The purchase price was set at 1 leu (EUR0.224) a share, valuing the stake on offer at RON600 million (EUR134.8 million). The price is 21.5% higher than the latest market price of RON0.792 a share.
Fondul Proprietatea’s buyback program was launched October 15 and was scheduled to be completed on November 4. However, the fund announced earlier today that it has extended the subscription period until November 14.
The fund 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=RON4.4514)