British group HSBC, one of the largest banks in the world, took a 5.02 percent stake in Romanian investment fund SIF Oltenia (BVB ticker: SIF5) following three transactions on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) on Tuesday, May 13.

Three packages totaling 28 million shares, or 4.8 percent of SIF Oltenia, were transferred on BVB for a total of RON 56 million (EUR 12.6 million). The price for the transaction was 13 percent higher than the price on the regular market.

This is the first major holding that HSBC reported on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. HSBC may hold this stake for some other investor as a custodian bank.

Among the other major shareholders of SIF Oltenia are SIF Moldova, the BCR-Erste group and Romanian businessman Florin Pogonaru. Investment funds managed by Franklin Templeton also have an important stake in the company. The law doesn’t allow any investor to hold more than 5 percent in the five investment companies (SIFs).

SIF Oltenia is the largest of the five Romanian investment companies (SIFs) which were created during the mass privatization program in the 90s. The company’s net assets were RON 1.52 billion (EUR 342 million) at the end of March 2014 and its market capitalization currently stands at EUR 229 million.

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com