"We are grateful to our Romanian investors who have enabled us to reach a significant milestone in the first two months since launching the ETF – over €5.5 million invested directly in our ETF through the Bucharest Stock Exchange. This adds to a total of €15 million funneled into Romanian blue-chip stocks via our ETF. Our ambitions for this year remain high, with a target of €30 million assets under management by the yearend. The important results we have achieved so far also set a strong foundation for the new instruments we plan to list on the BVB in the near future, such as our ETF offering exposure to Romanian government securities with maturities between 5 and 10 years, which we have recently listed on the Zagreb Stock Exchange," stated Ivan Kurtovic, Chairman of the Management Board at InterCapital Asset Management.
Since listing on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, more than 350,000 new fund units were issued by InterCapital. The total value of the ETF units traded on BVB overpassed €5.5 million. In this period, the NAV per unit increased by 6.4%, close to the evolution of the BET-TRN index, which appreciated by 6.6%. During this timeframe, BET index appreciated by 3.5%. Moreover, dividends were paid by nine companies included in the index – Banca Transilvania, Hidroelectrica, Romgaz, Nuclearelectrica, Electrica, Digi Communications, Transgaz, One United Properties and Transelectrica, which altogether contributed, after-tax, 3.1% to the BET-TRN index appreciation.
The Romanian indices continued strong performance between May and July 2024, with BET-TRN beating most other markets, growing 6.6%. In comparison, the S&P 500 increased by 3.1%, while MSCI Europe (-1.0%), MSCI Emerging (-0.6%) and MSCI Frontier (-1.0%) fell. All these returns were measured in RON to make them comparable, but the results are similar in local currencies. It is important to mention that the BET-TRN index is superior to all these indices in terms of Price-to-Earnings and dividend yield. BET-TRN index's P/E of 10 is significantly better than MSCI Emerging (15.6), or S&P 500, with P/E of 25.4. In addition, the BET-TRN offers a dividend yield of 5.5%, while the yield of the benchmark indices ranges from 4.3% (MSCI Frontier) to 1.3% (S&P 500).
InterCapital BET-TRN UCITS ETF was launched on May 29, 2024, and it is the first ETF that tracks the performance of the BET-TRN index, reflecting both the performance of the BET index constituents and the reinvestment of the net dividends distributed by them. In this way, the ETF offers diversification across the 20 blue-chip companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, which include both defensive stocks and dynamic local entrepreneurial companies. Investors moreover benefit from exposure to the local market even with small amounts that would not normally allow them to build a diversified investment portfolio. Currently, the ETF is tradeable at about RON 79.
Access to the BET-TRN is available at the lowest management fee of an ETF listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange of 0.6%, providing investors with a superior net return, maximizing the growth potential of their investment. Moreover, until July 31st, 2024, InterCapital has waived the management fee for the ETF in its entirety, to further promote the instrument to local investors base.
Year-to-date, the BET-TRN index rose 27%, surpassing key reference indices such as S&P 500 (+17%), MSCI Europe and MSCI Frontier (+10%), and MSCI Emerging (+9%).
With nearly 20 years of experience and a portfolio that includes 19 classic funds and 4 ETFs, InterCapital is the largest independent asset management company in Croatia managing €500 million. Over the years, InterCapital demonstrates expertise and innovation in investment fund management with multiple products and services launched. Namely, InterCapital is 1st SEE asset manager that has pivoted from classic UCITS funds into ETFs and digital robo-advisory space with its APP Genius. InterCapital has a clear path to offer cost effective and attractive products across SEE region following its mission to develop regional capital markets through implementation of best global standards and practices.
