Bucharest bourse enriches the Swedes

The 30% surge logged by the Bucharest Stock Exchange since the beginning of the year has benefited not only domestic investors, but also foreign investment funds operating on the Romanian market. One of the funds to have made solid Romanian stock purchases over the recent months is Gustavus Balkans, a fund managed by Swedish company Gustavus Capital Asset Management AB. The fund has yielded an 18.7% gain in euros this year, after having been launched in Sweden last October.

The first months of 2004 have brought big leaps not only for the Bucharest Stock Exchange, but also for all the capital markets in Southeast Europe. Still, the main stake held by the fund is Romanian – Banca Transilvania, which accounts for 9.3% of the fund’s portfolio. The bank’s stock has posted the best performances this year among the other shares traded on the bourse, soaring more than 40%. The second position among the Romanian participations is held by the Petrom stock, with a 4.8% share of the fund’s portfolio. Petrom on Monday logged another all-time high, of 1,850 ROL/share, up 22% since the beginning of the year.

Overall, the Romanian shares account for about a third of the fund’s assets, second only to the Croatian stakes, in terms of the fund’s exposure.

Gustavus Balkans operates as an open mutual fund, holding investments in the Balkan countries, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Russia, and the Ukraine. In the short term, the fund’s target-markets are Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia.
vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro