The Property Fund (Fondul Proprietatea), forecast to become the most important business on of the capital market over the next few years, will float on the Bucharest Stock Exchange in a matter of weeks. The value of the shares available for trading at first will be around 500 million euros, according to the fund''s chairman, Nicolae Ivan.
The fund is the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, with an accounting value of 4 billion euros, which will be disbursed to those people whose property was abusively seized during the communist regime, over the next few years.
"We hope to have the listing formalities going in one week, and have the fund listed on the BSE in four to five weeks," Nicolae Ivan, the chairman of the Fund''s Supervisory Board told ZIARUL FINANCIAR. Raiffeisen Capital & Investment, the brokerage firm of Raiffeisen Bank will be the broker of the listing. The floatation is stipulated by law and only means some formalities will need to be taken care of. The fee Raiffeisen will get will be lower than 3,000 euros.
The moment of listing will catch the fund manager-less and without all its shares distributed. Nicolae Ivan says shares worth 400-500 million euros will become available on the market this year, accounting for the reimbursement certificates issued by the state. This value is slightly lower than that of the Petrom shares traded on the market at the moment.
Several international asset managers like Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Salomon Brothers and Nomura will be vying for the contract to manage the fund this spring.
"We are now engaged in a marketing campaign to attract potential fund managers on the one hand, and on the other hand, to attract potential investors for the fund''s shares, to provide liquidity for those that want to sell," Ivan says.
According to the latest information on the market, the biggest reimbursement certificate issued thus far for which shares will be distributed is worth 167 million euros, with another person holding an approximate 100 million-euro certificate.
Ivan reckons the listing of the fund this year could bring several hundred million euros from foreign investors in Romania.
Big names of the international fund industry will be battling this year to gain the fund management contract that will probably fetch them several tens of millions of euros a year, since management fees on the international market usually reach 1-2% a year.
The listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange is not conditional to the selection of a manager and the fund chairman expects the manager to be appointed around June 1. Until then, the fund will choose a legal advisor out of the 13 international firms that submitted bids.
The fund has thus far selected Casa de Economii si Consemnatiuni (Romanian Savings Bank - CEC) as its partner bank and KPMG as the auditor. CEC could also provide depositary services, if it sets up a specialised department, otherwise the fund will turn to another depositary bank. vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro
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