Raiffeisen breathing down ING's neck

Austrian Raiffeisen Bank’s brokerage company Raiffeisen Capital & Investment caught up with ING Securities in the ranking of the most active securities firms on the Bucharest Stock Exchange last month. Each of the two has brokered nearly 2,900bn ROL ($87 million) in transactions since the beginning of the year, so that each of them accounts for 20% of the market. Raiffeisen last month brokered the largest deal in the entire history of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, the takeover of Terapia by Advent International investment fund. The deal amounted to about 1,300bn ROL ($40 million). Terapia’s shares will be the object of another tender offer in view of delisting, which will most likely be brokered by Raiffeisen again. Raiffeisen’s growth was largely due to foreign investors. “The share of foreign investors in the total has gone up this year compared with 2002. If talking in terms of structure, individuals are almost on a par with institutional investors in the deals we broker,” Dragos Neacsu, Raiffeisen Capital & Investment chairman says. Capital market sources say Raiffeisen has managed to bring a number of foreign investment funds on this market. The newest entry reported on the market, Switzerland-based Hyposwiss Danube Tiger bought 10% in Compa Sibiu car parts maker for 19bn ROL last month. The firm brokered 2,646bn ROL in transactions last month. Neacsu is optimistic about Raiffeisen Capital & Investment’s business in the rest of the year. ZF