Franklin Templeton Investment Management Limited, the investment manager of Romanian Fondul Proprietatea recommends the Romanian investment fund to be listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the first part of 2012. This would be a secondary listing for the fund, whose shares have been already floating on the Bucharest Stock Exchange since earlier this year.

This option has been analyzed during the last six months, following consultations with eight global investment banks. The short list included the Warsaw, London and Vienna Stock Exchanges.

A secondary listing would increase the visibility of the fund among institutional investors, would trigger its inclusion into international brokers' analysis, according to Franklin Templeton. With a market capitalization of USD 2.5 billion, Fondul Proprietatea would be among the top 15 largest companies listed on the main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, where 417 companies are listed in total. The Fund would have an even higher visibility in Warsaw than in London, where over 2,000 companies have a similar or even higher market capitalization. The investor base would be similar in Warsaw and in London, but the chances are higher for the Fund to be included in the creation of market indexes in Warsaw, as for the London Stock Exchange it would need to be re-registered in UK.

“We hope the shareholders will support our recommendation in the General Shareholders Meeting in September/October this year,” said Greg Konieczny, fund manager with Fondul Proprietatea.

Fondul Proprietatea (symbol FP) is listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, where it has a market capitalization of EUR 1.7 billion. The last trading price was of RON 0.525. There were 72,000 deals with FP shares in since it has been listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Warsaw Stock Exchange)