Globinvest manages 1.4m euros from foreigners

Foreigners have invested 1.4m euros in the funds managed by Cluj-Based company Globinvest, attracted by the yields the Romanian market has brought in recent years.
Foreigners’ investments weigh approximately 6% in the overall assets managed by Globinvest, after their value dropped from last summer, when they reached around 2 million euros.
Investment funds managed by Globinvest mainly bet on liquid shares listed on the Bucharest stock exchange.
Last year, the Cluj-based manager boasted the highest yield on the market with closed-ended investment fund FAPT, which brought investors a plus of over 50%.
“Foreign investors’ interest in Romanian funds is high, being motivated, on the one hand, by the market’s potential, but also by the need to diversify investments in the context of serious turmoil on international financial markets,” says Ilie Cenan, Globinvest chairman.
The company manages four investment funds with placements on the domestic market and a fund with exposure on international markets, with overall assets that top 24m euros. The 4 funds with domestic investments have so far raised 1.4m euros from 11 foreign investors.
“Foreign investors discovered our funds on the Internet and then contacted us by phone and asked about the market’s trend and potential,” says Cenan.
All the 11 investors are individuals living in Western European states, aged between 40 and 45, with a high level of financial knowledge, according to Cenan.
“Foreigners’ placements came close to 2m euros last year, but a portion of them withdrew either to cash in on their profits, or because of domestic capital market corrections. The longest placement has been that of an investor that joined our funds a year ago, but once the Stock Exchange rebounds I believe the number of foreign investors will rise,” considers Cenan.
Independent managers, like Globinvest, which are not part of financial-banking groups, have the advantage of a quite close relationship with investors in their funds and relies on direct contacts with potential investors.
Over 2,800 investors have so far invested in the four funds of Globinvest. The funds are distributed at the company’s headquarters and through Banca Transilvania and IFB Finwest brokerage offices.
On a market where managers part of banking groups control over 70% of assets, independent players are shifting their attention to market niches banking managers have yet to tap into, as well as toward sealing partnerships with strategic investors.
In a bid to strengthen its position on the market, Globinvest is now in search of foreign partners, with the major Western European financial groups as the main targets.