“Obviously, everybody is more cautious these days,” said Cristian Nacu, Partner of the Enterprise Investors private equity administrator.
“I appreciate fixed-revenues assets more than before. The change is long-term and I believe that the excellent returns that the equity funds registered [Ed. n. before the crisis] will be difficult to match in the future,” said Eugen Voicu, Chief Executive Officer of Aviva Investors Romania, a company that administers mutual funds and individual investment accounts worth some €10 million.
Investment managers look at rises on the stock exchange with skepticism, and they plan to allocate part of their resources to gold, despite deposit-related expenses. Some consider a 10-20 percent share of gold in their portfolio to be appropriate. “Gold cannot hide inflation. Central banks have “printed” large quantities of currency, which are not yet reflected in the inflation statistics. As far as I know, the gold stock increases 2.5 percent annually, so any higher rise in demand is only influencing its price,” Manager for Romania of Middle Europe Investments, Cristian R. Faeder, said.
Daniel Stifter, Head of EFG Eurobank Fund Management Romania, said he would not invest in gold, but rather plans to raise his exposures on the Stock Exchange, while waiting for quotations to bounce back. EFG EFM administers two mutual funds worth some €17 mln.
