The Ministry of Finance got rid of Franklin Templeton from Fondul Proprietatea, most likely with the help of pension funds. Therefore, the authority of the management was extended only for one year, and not for 4, as the manager of the Fund wanted.

Bucharest Stock Exchange – BVBPhoto: Hotnews / Florin Barbuta

It remains to be seen whether pension funds will be exempted from tax on dividends in the next period, as has been heard on the market lately.

The Finance Ministry, when proposing to extend the mandate for just one year, said it wanted to “reposition Fondul Proprietatea on a medium- and long-term investment path aligned with Romania’s economic development priorities.”

“Fondul Proprietatea can respond to a real need for the development of the financial market – (partial) coverage of local contributions to private investment funds co-financed through the PNRR,” said the document signed by Minister Marcel Bolosh.

The process of selecting a new administrator is currently underway.

Regarding another proposal of the Ministry of Finance, namely to appoint a person to the Committee of representatives of the Fund, about whom it was written in the press over time that she worked at the Research Institute (Liliana Angel), it did not succeed.

In one of the last interviews, Johan Meyer (general manager of Franklin Templeton Bucharest and portfolio manager of Fondului Proprietatea) talked about the investment strategy that he prepared and which will take him 4 years.

“Now, if we look at the life cycle of a typical private equity investment, it’s comfortably over four years from identifying the investment, executing the deal, working with the company to add value, and exiting. Therefore, we felt it was inappropriate to offer a short-term mandate while trying to offer a long-term strategy for the Fund,” Meyer said.

According to him, one of the areas that he has identified as having significant potential for the Fund and ultimately for the capital market in Romania is “the potential to invest in pre-IPO opportunities where we can leverage our experience and existing expertise in partnerships with companies and preparation of companies for listing on the stock exchange”.