Reconstruction Capital II (RC2), the first investment fund listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), which focuses on investments in Romania, has raised another 40 million euros beside the initial capitalisation of 25 million euros, representatives of New Europe Capital company, manager of the fund, have announced.
Rising investor appetite for the Romanian and Bulgarian markets, considered as being among the most attractive in Europe at the moment, has brought fresh money into the fund that was launched on the London Stock Exchange at the end of last year.
In the wake of this new subscription, new shareholders in the fund have emerged: Reichmuth & Co, a Swiss investment bank, holds a stake of 15.1 percent, and the Greek investment company Alfa Trust Andromeda owns a stake of 3.1 percent. The size of an investment may range between 5 and 10 million euros of the fund”s money, with the fund”s shareholders being able to get involved directly beyond the level of 10 million euros.
The fund”s shareholders are financial institutions based in England, Switzerland, Belgium and the United States, as well as natural persons.
The fund”s investment policy is primarily centred on food products, infrastructure, retail and specialised distribution, financial services, medical services and real estate developments, according to Reconstruction Capital II officials.
Approximately 70 percent of the money is going to be channelled toward the Romanian market, with the rest of funds going to Bulgaria. The fund”s market capitalisation tops 17.8 million pounds sterling (26.2 million euros) and the fund is expected to operate until 2012
Ion Florescu, the chairman of the company managing Reconstruction Capital II, in 1997 launched Reconstruction Capital I investment fund on the Romanian market, which, together with Romanian Investment Fund (controlled by RC1) have invested approximately 30 million dollars in companies operating in various sectors. Such companies include Policolor, a paint manufacturer (in which it holds a stake of 49 percent), Rolast Pitesti, a producer of rubber articles (through RIF it holds another 27 percent) and First Logistics Distribution, a distribution company, in which it controls a majority stake.
RC1 has recently sold stakes in Rolast jointly with another two funds, RIF and the Romanian American Enterprise Fund to Naniero Investments Limited, a Cypriot company based in Nicosia, which will own 33.01 percent in the Pitesti-based company after paying 1.95 million euros. adrian.mirsanu@zf.ro