Foreign investments, up, but not statistically

The take-over of Cluj-based Terapia drug maker has ruined Bucharest Stock Exchange’s net foreign investment (acquisitions minus sales) statistics, which had been positive in the first five months of this year. Moreover, the value of net foreign investments last month reached one of the lowest levels in the history of the exchange: a minus, that is net sales of almost 27 million dollars. The take-over of Terapia by Advent International investment fund in a 40 million dollar deal can be considered a foreign investment on the capital market, even though the transaction was recorded as an acquisition by a Romanian investor. The fund’s bid was placed through an investment vehicle it controlled, Terapia Holding, which is headquartered in Romania. The main sellers of Terapia shares were a series of other investment funds that cashed in at least 23 million dollars, while the Romanian shareholders that subscribed included several financial investment companies. Statistics show that foreign investors last month bought from the Stock Exchange equity coming to merely 3 million dollars, while the value of equity that was sold amounted to above 30 million dollars. One month before, the value of foreign investment pointed to net investments of 10 million dollars. ZF