Property Fund shares traded against cars, homes

Bartering has become the latest method of trading Property Fund (FP) shares, as some of the investors wishing to buy shares are short on cash. Since the fund is not listed on the Stock Exchange, transactions with FP shares are concluded via the Central Depository, based on agreement between the buyer and the seller. Buyers and sellers “meet” via ads. Real estate property and second-hand cars, markets that have both been significantly affected by the crisis, are most often traded against FP shares. Whilst in the past year the value of real estate properties and of cars has plummeted, the same cannot be said about FP shares, which rose 150% in 2009, according to brokerage firm Intercapital Invest. “When I posted the buy ad on the forum, I thought maybe one of the shareholders of the Fund has a grandson or daughter for whom they wanted to buy an apartment. I put the apartment up for sale several months ago, but have not been able to sell it, so I decided to try and trade it in for shares in the Property Fund (…),” says Tiberiu Georgescu, who offers an apartment in Ramnicu-Valcea in exchange for 500,000 FP shares.

A large share of the over 3,100 individual shareholders who together hold 40% of the FP capital are elderly people, targeted by expropriations by the communist regime, or their younger relatives.