Romanians working abroad have started to invest significant amounts of money on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and in domestic mutual funds, as an alternative to the traditional real estate investments. They remain attracted by the high yields offered on the Romanian capital market over the last few years, as well as by the greater attention they enjoy from brokers and domestic fund managers. "I started to invest in mutual funds as early as 1997, but I have invested more heavily over the past two to three years. Initially, I placed the money with the Transilvania diversified fund, and later with the Napoca equity fund. At first, I was a rather cautious investor and placed only small amounts," says Adi, a Romanian who emigrated to Atlanta seven years ago, and who has invested almost 300,000 euros since 1997 with the open-end investment funds Napoca and Transilvania, managed by Cluj-based Globinvest. Adi, aged 34, is a financial consultant with one of the biggest corporations in Atlanta; however, the thousands of kilometres have not prevented him from investing on the Romanian stock exchange. The reason behind the investments in mutual funds: his children's education, which is "quite costly in America". If Adi had to say what attracts him to Romanian mutual funds, the answer would be the high yields and the relationship between the investor and the manager. The equity funds have offered yields that range from 32% to 75% over the last 12 months, while the BET stock exchange index has increased by 33%, against the Dow Jones index on the American stock exchange, which has gained 16% over the past year.
