Fidelity Investments dumped its SIF and Petrom stock

The global financial turmoil recently led several foreign funds to lower their exposure on the Romanian market.

Fidelity Investments manages some 420 investment funds worldwide, with assets totaling €1.4 billion, according to data available at the end of September.

In October 2007, the fund manager owned, through some 20 funds, stock in local companies Petrom, four SIFs, and of Banca Transilvania (BT) lender.

The Fidelity Emerging Markets fund, with the largest exposure on Romania, dumped 0.75 percent of its SIF Transilvania shares, a 0.48 percent share in SIF Banat-Crisana, 0.34 percent of SIF Muntenia, and 0.21 percent of SIF Oltenia in the April-October 2008 period. It also sold Petrom stock, and currently owns €1.6 million worth of BT shares, which make up 0.05 percent of the fund’s assets.

Among foreign funds that have lowered their exposure on BVB are Julius Baer, the largest stockholder locally, Estonia-based Hansa fund, and a part of the funds controlled by Morgan Stanley, according to Bloomberg data.