Four foreign funds in Athens, Luxembourg and Amsterdam, with 236 million lei (56 million euros) in investments in Romanian shares, are looking at Fondul Proprietatea (FP) and doing the maths to have a slice in one of the most valuable companies in the region.
Management companies ING Investment Management, Middle Europe
Investments, EFG Eurobank and Alpha Asset Management are, through
the funds in their portfolios, some of the biggest foreign
institutional investors on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. At the end
of last year, local investments of ING Romanian Equity, MEI
Romanian and Bulgarian Fund, Bancpost Balanced-Active Fund and
Alpha Ro Foreign Balanced Fund amounted to 235.6 million lei (56
million euros), very close to the investments in Romanian shares of
all 57 local mutual funds. Energy sector and utility shares
(Petrom, Transgaz, Transelectrica) alongside banking shares (BRD
and Banca Transilvania) attracted the biggest investments from the
four funds, but utility companies made the difference as far as
yields are concerned.
“Alpha Ro Foreign Balanced fund posted a 7.3% yield in euro terms
(9.5% in lei terms i.e.) in 2010 and was the second best in Greece
in its category. The main engine of the performance was the solid
performance of the Transgaz, Transelectrica and Petrom shares, as
well as the good performance of short-term Romanian Government
bonds,” said Dimitri Tamvakas, senior fund manager at Apha Asset
Management based in Athens.