Enel takes foreign investments to record high

The value of foreign direct investments atracted in the first four months of this year amounted to a record 2.3 billion euros, double as much as the same time last year, while in April alone the sums attracted amounted to almost 1.6 billion euros, according to the National Bank of Romania (NBR). This is the highest level of foreign investments recorded in the January-April period over the last three years, the closest being the 2006 figure, when 2.3 billion euros were recorded. The fact that foreign investments in April matched those seen in the first three months of the year is explained by the completion of the privatisation of electricity distributor and supplier Electrica Muntenia Sud, and by the money being paid up by Enel. At the end of April, the Italian group paid 820 million euros to take over the majority stake in Electrica Muntenia Sud, of which the state collected 394.8 million euros, while the remaining 425.2 million euros represented the capital increase conducted for the newly taken over company. NBR data reveals that 70% of the foreign investments attracted between January and April were contributions to the share capital and reinvested profit, while the rest were loans granted by foreign companies to their local subsidiaries. The share of intra-group loans went down 8% on the same time last year. The National Trade Registry Office also reported record high foreign investments in form of contributions to the companies’ share capital. They amounted to 1.36 billion euros, almost three times as much as the same time last year.