The Bucharest Stock Exchange saw the trading of 1.6 billion Fondul Proprietatea shares in the first month since its listing. In total, 11.8 percent of the fund was traded on the BSE during this period, according to investment manager Franklin Templeton.

The value of the transactions with the fund's shares exceeded EUR 237 million, in over 27,000 transactions.

The fund's investment manager is currently focusing on increasing the value of the companies in the Fund's portfolio, which should reflect in the price of shares, according to Greg Konieczny, fund manager with Fondul Proprietatea.

The value increasing process will consist in including correct corporate governance practices and more efficient decision making processes in the companies in Fondul Proprietatea's portfolio, among others.

Bringing in foreign expertise and supplementary financing for these companies is also part of the strategy.

The Fondul Proprietatea shares were trading at a price of RON 0.619 on the Bucharest Stock Exchange as of March 1, 2011. The price is below the nominal value of the FP shares, of RON 1. More details here – symbol FP.

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.

editor@romania-insider.com