The Romanian-American Investment Fund (FRAI) took over a 51% stake in brokerage company Intercapital Invest, through investment management company Certinvest.
The stake was bought from businessman Eugen Voicu, who would not disclose the value of the transaction. However, brokers on the capital market claim the price revolved around 100,000 - 200,000 US dollars.
The Romanian businessman also sold the main stake in Certinvest to the investment fund last year.
The company, which administrates three mutual funds and will soon launch another three funds this year, is now controlling the company that has always brokered its capital market transactions. The National Securities Commission (CNVM) endorsed the stake transfer.
The upcoming private pension funds are the stake behind the takeover of the two companies, as these funds will be managed by specialised companies. Moreover, investors have been more interested in mutual funds lately. Last month alone, the net assets of the Romanian mutual funds surged 18%, up to 1,391 billion ROL ($43 million).
The US Congress set up FRAI in 1995, the first foreign fund to put money into investment management. The fund owns stakes in several Romanian companies, among which Banca Romaneasca (Romanian Bank), where it is the main shareholder, dye producer Policolor, tyre maker Rolast, hotel chain Comtel and the marble processing company Titan Mar.
Intercapital Invest's equity amounts to four billion ROL and the fund controls a market share of 1%- 2%, due to the transactions operated in the last few years on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE) and Rasdaq.
vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro
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