The seven pension funds have reached a 17.8% exposure to private medical service provider MedLife, 16.2% in the Romanian capital market operator BVB and 13.85% in the natural gas transmission system operator Transgaz, according to the data ZF found in the first-half 2018 Pillar II reports.
In comparison, Pillar II’s exposure to MedLife stood at 17%, while exposure to BVB and Transgaz was 16.2% and 13.8% in December 2017.
“Even though the Pillar 2 pension funds increased their MedLife stake, it did not translate into a rise in the MedLife stock price, because the growth mostly came from the share capital increase and the subsequent private placement of the unsubscribed shares; the capital increase was registered right at the beginning of the January,” says Simion Tihon, broker with Prime Transaction.
MedLife has dropped 19% on the stock market since the beginning of the year. In comparison, the main index of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BET, gained 10%.
The seven Pillar II private pension funds, which manage the retirement savings of 7.2 million Romanians, have 7.1 billion lei (EUR1.5 billion) invested on the Romanian stock market in the first half of 2018, 1.7% more than at the end of 2017, ZF has calculated from half-year reports.
“Although most of the purchases by these funds were made to keep, thus reducing the actual free float, the Pillar 2 has turned into a pillar of the capital market.”(EUR1=RON4.6628)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)