Julius Baer buys into Petrom and BRD

US investment fund Julius Baer International Equity Fund (JBIEF) has come to own about 1% in Petrom and 1.4% in BRD – SocGen in the wake of significant acquisitions of shares on the Stock Exchange over the last two years. The stakes the fund owns in the two companies are now worth about 38 million euros on the market.

The weight of the investments made in Romania stands at only 1% of the assets of the fund that manages a stock portfolio distributed across several international markets.

JBIEF currently manages assets worth 3.84 billion euros, with total assets managed by Julius Baer amounting to over 18 billion euros.

The Americans are among the most important minority shareholders in Petrom.

According to the latest market information, only the trade union of Petrom holds a similar interest to that of the US fund, while SIF Oltenia has recently halved its stake to 0.6%.

A stake of 1% in Petrom is currently worth 24 million euros on the Stock Exchange.

Only 7% in Petrom are currently owned by minority stakeholders in Petrom and are traded on the capital market, with the rest belonging to the state, which is going to transfer 33% of its stake to the Austrians of OMV.

Market sources state the Americans at Julius Baer were among the main buyers of stakes that were sold last month by SIF Oltenia on the Stock Exchange. Way before these transactions, in September, the fund already held a stake of 0.779% in Petrom’s capital, according to the latest quarterly report.

The manager of the US fund could not be contacted, but one year ago he stated Petrom’s shares seemed cheap to him considering the company’s EBITDA (earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) and cash flow. Since then, the value of Petrom shares on the stock market has doubled.

In September, the fund held 19.6 million BRD shares, which are currently worth above 10 million euros on the market and account for 1.4% in the bank’s capital.
vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro