Investimental, the newest broker from the Bucharest Stock Exchange, and InterCapital Asset Management, the largest independent investment manager in Croatia, are preparing to launch in the coming months a new ETF (exchange traded fund) focused on the BET-TRN index at BVB, says Ovidiu Dumitrescu, deputy CEO of the brokerage company.
“I would say not only that we bring new Romanian investors to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, we also bring new foreign investors. We apologize for being more optimistic, thinking we would launch it in the first quarter. We will launch it in the second quarter; it took a little longer because, being the first construction of this kind, the paths were drawn”, said Ovidiu Dumitrescu at the ZF Deschiderea de Bătău.
InterCapital, a company with EUR 420 million in assets under management, has already launched an ETF based on the local BET-TRN index on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, as well as in Slovenia, on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange. The index reflects the price developments of blue-chip companies from BVB, such as Hidroelectrica (H2O), OMV Petrom (SNP) and Banca Transilvania (TLV), while reinvesting net dividends.
“Probably, this ETF, which is based on the Romanian index, will start to be traded on other exchanges as well. It is already traded in Zagreb and Ljubljana, but it will probably also reach Hungary and other markets – so greater liquidity and influence of the Romanian stock market in the region. This means taking the first steps towards becoming a regional stock market hub.”
The Bucharest Stock Exchange has two listed ETFs, one based on the BET benchmark (TVBETETF) and the other on BET-NG, the index of companies listed on the BVB main market whose business is energy and related utilities, launched at the beginning last year under the symbol PTENGETF.
“When you start to have this competition on the index, it means that attention is drawn to you in the region and that the world starts to relate to what is happening in Romania. Until now, they related a lot to Poland and, until the 2008 crisis, to Greece. Athens was a very developed hub”, says Ovidiu Dumitrescu.
The ETF from Zagreb, which replicates the performance of BET, has assets worth 13.8 million euros, equivalent to about 69 million lei. The fund entered trading on the Croatian market on May 31, 2023.
“In this vacuum, Romania is placed quite well (…) We can start to become a kind of reference, a benchmark, if you will. An important step is the fact that we have ETFs that come from outside, but they plug into our liquidity. Basically, it adds value here, it pumps capital into the country.”
