Wife of BCR''s chairman launches mutual funds

The investment management company Star Asset Management, controlled by Georgeta Danila, wife of BCR”s chairman, Nicolae Danila, will launch two new mutual funds by the end of the week. Star Asset Management is run by Dorin Danescu, the former general manager of SIRA, the company that manages the equity fund Omninvest and the Foreign Trade Fund (FCEx). Georgeta Danila also owned shares in SIRA, but she sold most of her stake when the company was taken over by Omniasig Asigurari de Viata (Life Insurance). The two funds launched by Star Asset Management are called Star Focus and Star Next. Star Focus is a diversified fund, which will place 30% of investments in monetary instruments, bonds and shares. The other fund, Star Next, is an equity fund, which will invest up to 80% of its shares on the capital market. Danescu specified that he would adopt the same investment strategy he used with SIRA, which allowed him to achieve the highest yield on the market in 2005 (of some 54%), with the Omninvest equity fund. ZF