KD wants to sell Luxembourg-registered funds

Cosmin Paunescu, general manager of KD Investments, says the distribution of some funds centrally managed at the level of the group will complement the company’s offering on the domestic market.
KD Investments, an investment management company, part of Slovenia’s KD Group financial group, plans to start distributing funds of the KD DeLux range on the Romanian market by yearend. KD DeLux funds are registered in Luxembourg, with the range including three equity and two bond funds.
“We want to bring KD DeLux funds onto the Romanian market by yearend. We are primarily interested in the bond funds of the DeLux range, which would complement our current offering considering the Romanian capital market provides few placement alternatives for bond funds,” Cosmin Paunescu, the general manager of KD Investments, told ZF. Pioneer Asset Management (the former CA IB) also announced it intended to distribute funds of the group it is part of starting 2007. KD Investments must first get the approval of the National Securities Commission (CNVM) to start distributing the foreign funds, with legislation related to funds managed abroad being highly restrictive at this moment.
Beside the distribution of funds centrally managed at the level of the group, KD Investments also plans to launch two domestically managed funds this year. The first one, KD Optimus, is a diversified fund awaiting CNVM approval and set to launch in September, and the second one will be a funds fund to largely invest in local and foreign fund units.
KD Investments currently manages an equity fund, KD Maximus, launched in July 2004. KD Maximus last year posted a 23.9% yield and has witnessed a fund unit decline by 2.6% since the beginning of this year. The value of KD Maximus assets in late June stood at around 4.87m euros.
Paunescu estimates assets under KD Investments management will amount to around 8-9 million euros by the end of this year.
One of KD Investments’ development directions is the strengthening of its distribution network. KD plans to develop the concept of “fund stores”, where investors can find the complete fund offering on the market and specialised consulting services.
“We want to expand the distribution network by opening 3 secondary offices in Bucharest working as sales points where investors can find funds from several management companies. We are already in talks with a series of management firms that are interested in distributing fund units through our sales points,” stated Paunescu.
KD Investments also banks on the development of traditional distribution channels. The company in April sealed a distribution contract with Banca Carpatica and is now in talks with another three banks to expand the distribution network.

KD Investments

Part of Slovenia’s KD Group financial group
Plans to start distributing KD DeLux funds on the Romanian market by yearend
KD DeLux funds are registered in Luxembourg and include 3 equity and two bond funds
Is primarily interested in bond funds, which would complement the company’s offering on the domestic market
Also intends to launch two domestically managed funds
One of the company’s development lines is related to the strengthening of the distribution network