End of the line for DePfa Money Market

Closed-end investment fund DePfa Money Market, which entered the local market to speculate on high interest rates and the appreciation of the RON, has been liquidated by shareholders after more than six years in business. “DePfa Asset Management Romania company requested in April that the DePfa Money Market fund be deregistered. Therefore the fund ceased to exist last month,” said Adrian Tudose, chief executive of the Fund Managers Association (AAF). At the end of March, the fund only had one legal entity as investor (DePfa Bank) and assets worth 125,000 RON, whereas in 2004 it was the biggest investment fund in Romania, with assets standing at 254 million RON (62 million euros). DePfa Asset Management representatives in Romania could not be reached for comment. The fund was established by German DePfa bank at the end of 2002 and was managed by local company DePfa Asset Management, which is about to be liquidated. The purpose for which the fund was established four years ago was to allow German DePfa bank to make profit from interests on RON and the appreciation of the RON against the euro, circumventing the restrictions in place at the time that did not allow banks to take deposits in RON from foreign investors.