The City of London Investment Management Company Limited owns 5.85 percent of Romania's Fondul Proprietatea, according to the company, which has recently filed a notification to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, where the Fondul Proprietatea shares are floating (symbol FP).

The City of London Investment Management owns 134 million Fondul Proprietatea shares, as well as 668,000 warrants issued by UniCredit Tiriac Bank. Each of these warrants can be converted into 1,000 Fondul Proprietatea shares.

The company bought the shares in deals on the secondary market, according to the notification. With 5.85 percent of the shares in Fondul Proprietatea, City of London Investment Management Company has almost 2.33 percent of the total voting rights.

Fondul Proprietatea posted a profit of EUR 3.3 million in the first quarter of this year, compared to a loss of around EUR 5.4 million in the same period of 2010.

The fund’s revenues stood at EUR 7.8 million, an increase compared to around EUR 4.7 million in Q1 of last year. Fondul Proprietatea, under the management of Franklin Templeton, managed to halve its expenses, to EUR 4.3 million.

The fund has recently received the National Securities Commission’s ok to invest in securities traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Fondul Proprietatea was created in 2005 as a joint stock company with a special purpose to provide compensation to the persons whose real estate assets have been confiscated abusively by the Romanian state during the communist regime and who can no longer receive restitution in kind.

City of London Investment Management Company Limited was founded in 1991 by Barry Olliff. The company operates from four centres, London, Philadelphia, Singapore and Dubai, managing assets primarily for institutional investors.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: CCIB)