For calendar year 2022, Fondul Proprietatea produced an NAV return of 19.1% and a share price return of 12.2% (in RON terms) or 3.9% in US dollar terms. At the year end, the shares were trading on a 20% discount. There’s a RON0.05 dividend and the board may yet declare a special dividend.
The highlights of the year were:
- Completion of the 13th buy-back programme for 549.0 million shares (460.6 in the form of shares and 88.4 million in the form of GDRs). The total value of the programme excluding transaction costs was RON 1,157.2 million, and the average share price was RON 2.11 per share;
- Completion of the 10th Tender offer of 325 million shares (264.6 million in the form of shares and 60.4 million in the form of GDRs), at a purchase price of RON 2.19 per share and the USD equivalent of RON 109.50 per GDR, executed to accelerate the 13th buy-back programme;
- Payment to shareholders in February 2022 of the special dividend distribution of RON 0.06 per share (RON 351.2 million) approved in December 2021 – 97.0% of the distribution collected until 31 December 2022;
- Payment to shareholders in June 2022 of the dividend distribution from 2021 annual profit of RON 0.125 per share (RON 774.3 million) – 96.1% of the distribution collected until 31 December 2022;
- Completion of two ABB offerings for the entire holding of the Fund in OMV Petrom SA, namely 4,052,067,726 shares for a total value of RON 1,742.4 million;
- FSA authorisation of Fondul Proprietatea as a closed-end type Alternative Investment Fund intended to retail investors on 28 January 2022;
- Payment to the Fund by the Romanian State, represented by the Ministry of Finance on 1 February 2022 of RON 189,182,422, as payment for unpaid shares owned by the Romanian State in the Fund (363,812,350 unpaid shares, each share having a nominal value of RON 0.52).
- Approval of Hidroelectrica SA listing on BVB by the company’s shareholders during 31 March 2022 GSM
[That last point is important as it is the fund’s largest holding. The hope is that the IPO happens at some point in 2023. However, interest in the IPO may be constrained by it listing just on the local Bucharest exchange and not the dual listing with a larger exchange that most investors seem to have ben hoping for.]
FP. : Fondul Proprietatea reports on decent 2022 as Hidroelectrica IPO inches closer