Twenty of the biggest funds active on the Bucharest Stock Exchange owned around 1.1 billion euros in Romanian shares at the end of August, double last year's value.
The increase is due to the positive trend of listed shares, as well as to new investments made by funds. Investments by foreign funds accounted for about 3% of the total capitalisation of the Romanian market at the end of August, which amounted to some 33 billion euros.
Romania's accession to the European Union has generated a constant wave of foreign investments on the Bucharest Stock Exchange this year, with some of the biggest global fund managers directing their attention towards the Romanian market.
The inclusion of Romanian shares in the regional and global indices calculated by Morgan Stanley and Dow Jones has led to the entry onto the Romanian market of some major investment funds that use these indices to build their portfolios.
The big names that entered the market this year include JPMorgan, which invested more than 20 million euros through two funds at the end of August, Morgan Stanley - 2.6 million euros, and Credit Suisse - 1.3 million euros.
These funds, which have a regional presence, have a low exposure on the Romanian market, compared with their net assets, which are worth billions of euros.
The foreign funds with the biggest investments on the Bucharest Stock Exchange have been present on the market for at least one year, but have significantly increased their stakes since the beginning of 2007.
The number of foreign funds active on the Stock Exchange has doubled this year, considering the number of buy accounts of foreign legal entities went up from around 100 last year to 187 in August.
Net foreign investments amounted to almost 540 million euros in the first eight months of the year compared with around 220 million euros in 2006.
The funds that have significantly increased their investments on the Bucharest Stock Exchange this year include Julius Baer (US), East Capital (Sweden) and MEI (Netherlands), all of which totalled investments worth over 100 million euros at the end of August. In turn, Northern and Swiss funds are also among the most active on the Romanian stock market.
Julius Baer International Equity Fund, the biggest foreign fund on the Stock Exchange, increased its investments on the Romanian market by 70% in the first seven months of the year, from 191 million euros at the end of January, to 324 million euros at the end of July.
The exposure of the fund to Romanian shares went up from 1.6% to 1.8% of its over 18 billion-euro net assets.
The fund, which is managed by the US division of the Swiss Julius Baer bank, has been present on the Romanian market for three years.
The funds managed by Julius Baer had 375 million euros invested on the Stock Exchange at the end of July.
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