During Tuesday’s session, SIF shares recorded corrections of as much as 8%, but then rallied slightly, closing down by around 6-7%.
In the last two months (since the end of July) the SIFs declined by as much as 40%, with investors now looking towards 2009 lows. In order to reach February 2009 levels, the SIFs would have to lose around 50% more.
Brokers blame the significant corrections recorded by the SIFs lately on the unfavorable market conditions and on investor perception of the SIFs’ exposure to Erste Bank shares, following the offer sealed with the Austrian bank in order to capitalize on their BCR stake.
The SIFs a few weeks ago sealed an in principle agreement with Erste, handing over stakes in BCR in exchange for a fixed amount, of around EUR25.6 million for every SIF and for a 1% stake in Erste, then valued at EUR82 million.
In the meantime, the shares of the Austrian bank have significantly depreciated on the Vienna stock exchange and have lost around 15% of their value in the last three days alone, with an Erste Bank share declining 5.6% to 17 euros/share.
“The uninspired deal with Erste for the BCR stake can be an explanation for the SIF declines,” believes Mihai Chisu, broker at IFB Finwest.
“The shares are penalized for several reasons: the extremely fragile international context, the American stock exchange declines, corrections on European stock exchanges and banking shares corrections, considering that SIF shares have exposure to the banking system. Basically people increasingly more associate SIFs with Erste and when Erste shares decline, they also sell SIF shares,” he adds.
He adds that SIF shareholders are disappointed by the deal that saw the SIFs part with the biggest stake in their portfolio, the stake in BCR, the largest bank in the Romanian banking system.
“The SIF declines appear to be too steep because they can make up for lost ground in the spring of next year if the SIF management grants shareholders a very generous dividend to ease some of the guilt felt towards the shareholders who did not want this deal. This is the last hope for the SIFs because in the medium term there are no reasons for appreciation,” Chisu also says.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)