The US investment funds managed by Artio Global Investors (theformer US investment arm of Swiss bank Julius Baer), which stillown the largest portfolio on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, valuedat around 130m dollars (100m euros), have started selling stock inOMV Petrom (SNP), the biggest listed Romanian company, according tomarket sources.
Artio Global funds are the biggest private investors in Petrom,owning a stake of 1.43% in the company in late October, namely morethan 800 million shares currently assessed on the Stock Exchange ataround 70m euros.
The Americans became an investor in Petrom as early as 2002,shortly after the company's floatation, when the stock pricerevolved around 0.1 RON, and gradually augmented their stake untilthe end of 2008, when they halted investments on the BucharestStock Exchange and started selling from the other stakes.
Yesterday, Petrom shares hit a new two-year high, of 0.3689RON/share, registering a 10% increase since the start of theyear.
Brokers say that the buyers are also foreign investment funds,attracted on the Bucharest Stock Exchange by the outlook of FPfloatation, scheduled for next Tuesday.
As a matter of fact, foreign investors' strategies now largelydepend on FP floatation, and Artio Global's sales of Petrom stockmay be a way of raising cash to buy FP stock.
Artio Global representatives could not be contacted for comment andofficial transaction reports are likely to emerge as late as April,when funds publish their January 31 report.
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