Property Fund distributes the entire 1bn-RON wealth to shareholders

Fondul Proprietatea (Property Fund) wants to reward its shareholders with 1.13 billion RON in dividends resulting from profits made in 2008 and 2009, which places it among the top dividend payers in the economy alongside giants such as Petrom, Vodafone, and Lafarge.

The heirs of big industrialist and banking families from the interwar period – Malaxa, Auschnit, and Chrissoveloni, over 3,000 individuals, foreign investment funds, and the Romanian state, which still controls over 50% of the Fund’s capital, will receive an overall 1.13 billion-RON in dividends from the Fund, amounting to 97% of the profits left undistributed for 2008 and 2009. The gross value of the dividend is 0.082 RON/share and is to be approved by the shareholders on September 6th.

“An investment fund, regardless of the purpose for which it was created, must distribute profits, not capitalise them, as can occur in the case of companies. Even if the granting of dividends dries up the Fund’s liquidity, the manager’s mission is to create other resources,” said Rare[ Nila[, general manager of BT Securities brokerage.