The famous investment guru Mike Mobius, executive president of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, who recently attended a wedding in Romania, wrote on his blog about how old and new combines in Romania when it comes to life and to business.

“I was invited to attend the wedding of one of our Romanian staff in June, and I jumped at the opportunity to celebrate with the happy couple, visit a different part of Romania, and talk to locals about life there. The celebration represented a microcosm of the juxtaposition of old and new in Romania, and this is similar for investors there as progress continues toward market reform,” Mobius wrote on his blog.

To attend the wedding in Zalau, Mobius flew to Cluj – Napoca and then traveled by car: “Winding roads took us through lush green, mountainous terrain with farms on the low lying plains sandwiched between the peaks. I could understand why at one point there was a substantial wood furniture industry in the area, given the abundance of forests.”

He had a look at the new residential properties in the city of 50,000 inhabitants, and at the derelict industrial area, which combines with the existing manufacturing sites.

“This was the second wedding I had attended in Romania and I had a wonderful time,” he wrote, mentioning the traditional music combined with Western songs, and the combination of people going to Church on a Sunday morning and a few modern Western European grocery outlets.

“Reform and change is not always a smooth or easy process, as old ideas with deep roots can take time to reseed,” Mobius concluded, saying that Romania still needs to go on the path of privatizations and Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) that should help boost the underdeveloped local capital markets and provide financing for necessary investments, making the country an attractive destination for foreign investments. The full blog post is here.

Franklin Templeton is the manager of Romanian investment fund Fondul Proprietatea. Foreigners have invested over EUR 750 million in Romania's Fondul Proprietatea shares in the two years since the fund was listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, and foreigners are the largest individual shareholders in the fund, with Elliott Associates holding 14.95 percent in FP, while City of London Investment Management holds 9.69 percent and The Royal Bank of Scotland, 5.39 percent.

Since taking the management of the Romanian fund, Mobius has become a regular presence in Romania, where he attends meetings with Fondul Proprietatea shareholders as well as various conferences.

editor@romania-insider.com