Biggest equity fund: SIFs to beat FP this year

Radu Hanga, general manager of BT Asset Management and manager of the biggest equity fund domestically, expects SIF shares to outperform Fondul Proprietatea (FP) ones, driven by the economy rebound.

With assets under management worth 67.5m lei (16m euros), BT Maxim is the biggest equity fund domestically. At the end of last year, the fund’s biggest investments were the shares of the five financial investment companies (SIF), with a cumulated weight of over 37% in assets. The fund has more than 2,265 investors.

The bet on SIFs has kept the equity fund at a distance from the five best-performing mutual funds. The index of the five SIFs dropped by almost 8% and the fund ended 2010 with a 1.1% yield, below the 18.3% performance of top-performer Omninvest.

“Exposure to SIFs did not help us last year as it was an indirect bet on the rebound of the economy. While in early 2010 economic rebound outlooks were still strong, the situation deteriorated subsequently and SIF underperformed other sectors on the Bourse. For 2011, I expect the economy to pick up, though, and return to growth, and the financial field will be the first to benefit from this,” said Radu Hanga.