* The Court of Appeal once again annuls the appointment of the manager of the Proprietatea Fund

* Ioana Sfîrăială: "The buyback offer should be annulled"

* FP: "The decision of the Court of Appeal has no impact on the buyback program"

* FP, represented in the lawsuit by Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen

* 20% of the shares of the Proprietatea Fund, subscribed in the buyback offer

With its buyback offer in full swing, the Proprietatea Fund has been dealt a new blow by the Bucharest Court of Appeal, which has decided to invalidate a decision of the shareholders of the Fund, by which Franklin Templeton was appointed as the manager of the Fund.

On Monday, the Court has admitted the appeal filed by lawyer Ioana Sfîrăială, minority shareholder of the Fund, against a civil ruling of December 2011 and has declared as invalid the decision of the Extraordinary General Shareholder Meeting no. 5/November 29th, 2010, by which the Articles of Incorporation of the Proprietatea Fund were being amended.

The Court of Appeal has also denied the requests for intervention filed by Manchester Securities Corp. and Georgia Palade van Dusen.

Ioana Sfîrăială told us: "After Monday's ruling of the Court of Appeal, what should have already happened should occur, meaning that the ASF should acknowledge the fact that the Proprietatea Fund has no representative, suspend all the decisions made so far, including the buyback offer. So far, the CNVM has responded that Franklin Templeton is acting based on this decision of the General Shareholder Meeting (ed. note: the one of November 2010), which has now been canceled by the Court of Appeal. After this, they will probably invoke the next decisions. All the while, the money is leaving, and the Fund is left an empty shell. The decision lies with the ASF, which is however a politicized institutio