It was never the intention of the state to increase the portfolio of the Proprietatea Fund (FP) or to increase its share capital, the minister of Finance, Gheorghe Ialomiţianu said yesterday.
The stipulation comes after the announcement made by "Franklin Templeton", the manager of the Proprietatea Fund, which said that it would take all the necessary actions to freeze 372.5 million shares of the Proprietatea Fund owned by the Romanian state (2.7% of the share capital of the Fund). These represent shares which the state subscribed, but which were not paid in, and "Franklin Templeton" intends to recoup the amounts pertaining to those shares.
According to minister Ialomiţianu, the Proprietatea Fund sent a letter to the Ministry of Finance, which will be discussed by the officials of the ministry: "The Proprietatea Fund addressed a letter to the Ministry of Public Finance, which I gave to my colleagues for review. We will discuss how to resolve this situation. At any rate, it was never even considered bringing in more money to increase the share capital of the Proprietatea Fund, nor to increase its portfolio".
The Proprietatea Fund currently has a subscribed share capital of 13,778,392,208 lei and a paid in share capital of 13,405,864,536 lei.
The officials of "Franklin Templeton" say that the reduction of the share capital is due to the fact that the state, represented by the Ministry of Public Finance, did not bring in the contribution in kind, namely the shares it owns in "Electromecanica" Ploieşti, Compania Naţională "Romarm" (the "Uzina Mecanică" Bucharest branch), as well as in "Nuclearelectrica".
In order to pay for its unpaid shares in the Proprietatea Fund, the government would need to spend an additional 372.5 million lei (based on their face value), of which about 11.7 million lei for the unpaid shares in "Electromecanica Ploieş
