An over 2bn-euro fortune valued at 530m euros on the Bourse

Fondul Proprietatea’s stakes in unlisted companies, the state’s “crown jewels”, are valued on the Bourse at less than 25% of the value they were registered at in the Fund’s net asset in late December.

A simple calculation shows that if the value of the fund’s listed stakes, yesterday standing at some 1.23bn euros, and the around 310m-euro liquidities are extracted from FP’s yesterday capitalisation, of around 2.07bn euros, it results that the unlisted stakes in FP’s portfolio are currently valued on the market at just 530m euros, namely less than a quarter of their “book” value.
Analysts have explanations for this situation, starting from the fact that investors now buying FP shares apply a significant discount to the asset value because of the risks associated with the Romanian market, which is a frontier market, where investment funds expect gains of over 10-15% per annum.
Moreover, the fact that many of the companies part of the fund’s portfolio are not listed and are controlled by the state is an additional risk.