Fondul Oamenilor de Afaceri (The Fund for Businesspeople - FOA) has decided to grant a dividend worth 2,000 ROL per fund unit for 2003, amounting to almost 27 billion ROL. The sum will be distributed among the fund's investors, almost 100,000 in number.
The FOA, previously the Fond Mutual al Oamenilor de Afaceri (Mutual Fund for Businesspeople - FMOA) is organised as a venture capital fund. An investor who held FMOA fund units worth $1,000 in 1996 can now sell the stock on the RASDAQ market for $50, while the dividends on such an invested sum would this year amount to $4.2.
The FOA has big plans for the year ahead: it wants to be more active on the capital market in the hope of accruing more than the interest that would be obtained though banking. Moreover, it will start distributing some of the gains registered last year to its investors. "During 2004, we intend to be more active on the traded stock market, to the end of reaching yields superior to those offered by the monetary market," stated Neli Neacsu, chairman of SAFI Invest, the managing company.
Before the fund collapsed in 1996, a share was worth around 55,000 ROL, roughly $14 at the then exchange rate of 4,000 ROL/dollar. The fund's units were turned into shares with a face value of 27,141 ROL, which are now traded on the RASDAQ market at a price of 23,500 ROL (0.7 dollars). The dividend of 2.000 ROL to be paid by the fund this year is equivalent to $0.06. Sums distributed by the fund will benefit investors holding stakes by May 15th. If the dividends yielded remain the same, FOA Investors can thus hope to recoup the initial investment they made in the mid-'90s in some 38 years time.
At the end of last year, FOA posted net assets of 287 billion ROL ($8.5 million). Investments in the fund mainly consist of traded stock (50.2% of assets), non-traded stock (17%), with the remainder representing monetary investments.
vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro
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