Dutch group ING, one of the biggest asset managers in Europe, has invested almost 17 million euros in two mutual funds that will be managed by its local asset management branch. The company seeks to attain the top spot among Romanian mutual fund managers.
Via its insurance company, ING manages the largest long-term savings funds on the Romanian market, which was worth 229 million euros on December 31, 2007, more than the entire mutual funds market, whose assets amounted to 194 million euros. ING Asigurari attained this position after it aggressively placed itself as a savings solutions provider, rather than insurance solutions provider, from 1998 through to 2005, and because of the weakness of mutual funds after the FNI scandal.
The latest move indicates that the Dutch felt that now was the right time for mutual funds. The two funds, ING International Romanian Equity and ING International Romanian Bond, were launched in Luxembourg in mid February and are part of ING International SICAV (open-end investment company with variable capital).
"The funds were launched in Luxembourg, as were many other ING funds. They have the so-called 'European passport', which means they can be distributed everywhere across Europe. At the very earliest, they will be distributed in Romania in the second half of the year," says Marius Popescu, chief executive of ING Asset Management, the local branch of the Dutch asset management company ING Investment Management.
Luxembourg is considered a sort of "Mecca" for mutual funds as far as the asset management industry is concerned, with no less than 8,500 European funds "domiciled" there.
ING International Romanian Equity is an open-end equity fund, which will invest on both the domestic capital market and on regional markets such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The fund's exposure to shares on foreign markets will not exceed 49% of its assets, according to the simplified prospectus. The open-end investment fund ING International Romanian Bond will invest in RON-denominated monetary market instruments.
"The total insertion of the group's capital in the two funds stood at 60 million RON - 30 million RON for each fund. The ING funds will be distributed via the group's bank. They will also be available for the unit-linked products of ING Asigurari de Viata," explains Popescu.
The next step for the managers at ING is to notify the National Securities Commission (CNVM) and register the two funds with the Commission's Registry in order to begin distribution.
"We want to become number one on the local market of mutual funds within the next two or three years," adds Popescu.
The current number one on the mutual fund market is BCR Asset Management, which became the market leader last year after a capital inflow of 11 million euros from the parent group, directed to five open-end investment funds. BCR AM managed approximately 150 million RON in assets (41 million euros) at the end of January.
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