Investment fund Romania Moldova Direct Fund (RMDF) has 5-6 million dollars that should be invested the Romanian economy by the end of the year. The fund is waiting for proposals coming from the food, financial services and telecommunications industries.
RMDF has 31 million dollars in capital, while 26 million dollars are allotted for Romanian projects.
Colin Hart, Chief Operating Officer with the company managing the fund, says that RMDF may accept projects from other fields as well, aiming for those companies that can be listed on the international capital market or sold to some strategic investors after several years.
Such as the other investment funds in Romania, RMDF faces an acute lack of quality projects and managers to develop the targeted companies.
"Acquisition opportunities are quite hard to find now, since most companies have already been privatised. The four companies currently for sale are larger than our target," Colin Hart told Ziarul Financiar. He added that RMDF typical investment stands at 3-4 million dollars.
RMDF investment strategy aims at companies producing goods in high demand on the market. The fund also watches the companies APAPS offers for sale and relies on the business opportunities proposed by the businessman Dinu Patriciu, who is a member of the fund's investment board and a shareholder in RMDF.
The fund also takes into account the projects submitted by any Romanian entrepreneur looking for RMDF financing, but this variant was less often selected, as "the business plans are usually bad," says the RMDF official.
The fund has already invested in three companies: First Logistics & Distribution (the former First Romanian Distribution), Rompetrol Group and Sanex Cluj. RMDF holds a 55.5% stake in First Logistics & Distribution, whose turnover was 21 million dollars in 2000 and 16 million dollars in 1999. First Logistics has recently changed its name in order to reflect the high share of the logistics activities in the company's scope.
