Intercapital IM, which manages about RON2 million assets, is one of the smallest asset managers in Romania. It has been for sale since last fall, after the deal with a group of investors fell through due to difficulties in securing approval from the Financial Supervisory Authority for the takeover, sources familiar with the talks say.
Three investors have now submitted letters of interest to buy the asset manager from brokerage firm Intercapital Invest, which owns 99.99% in it. A commercial bank that does not have asset management operations is among the parties interested, market sources said. One investor got an exclusive agreement to seal the deal until February 10, market sources added.
Razvan Pasol, chief executive officer of Intercapital Invest, would not comment on the information when Ziarul Financiar asked him to.
Investors are mostly likely interested in Intercapital IM for its asset manager license. Buying an asset manager appears to be a better deal than starting one from scratch. Licensing requirements include EUR125,000 as share capital, but securing all the necessary approvals from the ASF may take more than six months.
The asset management market is a concentrated market. Five companies held by the largest banks in the system account for more than 90% of the assets, while the remaining 15 have a very small market share. The local asset management market is dominated by banks, which have powerful distribution networks and sell their own mutual funds, while independent managers not backed by a banking group have trouble attracting investors. The competitors on this market as the same as five years ago.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristecu)