New hurdles along FP shareholders' path to Stock Exchange

Thousand of people own Fondul Proprietatea shares jointly, being registered at the Central Depository in “joint accounts” which they share with several inheritors of the same former owner. They cannot trade their shares on the Stock Exchange before going to the notary public.
Iulian Lepa, a lawyer specialising in compensations and a shareholder in FP himself, is in the position of sharing with his sister a “joint account” of stock received as compensation for a plot of land that belonged to his mother and was confiscated by the communists.
“(…) In my case it will be simpler, because we are two, but there are situations where seven inheritors, in various relationships with the former owner, share the same stake in the Fund. For them, dividing the shares will be more complicated,” he said.
For shareholders in “joint accounts” to be able to sell their shares on the Stock Exchange starting January 25, when the Fund is scheduled to float, they need to go to the notary public to unlock their shares.