— Overall gain reaches EUR 99 mln
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The 19 Approved Investment Companies listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange lost EUR 16.33 mln in the fourth quarter of last year, which reduced their positive performance for the whole year to EUR 99 mln and left them trailing badly behind the CSE General index performance.
The end of September 2007 was the peak performance for the investment companies as their combined total assets reached EUR 785.8 mln, when
By the end of December 2007, their total assets fell to EUR 769.45 mln for a EUR 16.33 mln decline.
But for the whole of 2007, investment companies increased total assets by EUR 98.89 mln or 14.75% to EUR 769.46 mln from EUR 670.57 mln end of 2006, according to the Financial Mirror data.
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— Dismal performance
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However, the average performance of the investment funds fell short of expectations compared to the overall performance of the CSE GENX index, since according to Financial Mirror calculations, the 19 investment companies improved their net asset values (NAV) by an average 6.83% at a time when the CSE GENX gained 23.6% in 2007.
Jupiter Investments (ARI) was the best performer among the large funds with at least EUR 50 mln assets under management, lifting its NAV by 17% YoY, followed by Interfund (INF), the second largest, which managed to lift its NAV by 15%.
Demetra Investments (DEM), the largest fund which has diversified into property and other investments lifted its NAV by 10.7%, while Cytrustees increased its NAV by 10.5%.
The worst performers were Regallia (down 21.6%), Ischis (down 16.4%) and Harvest (down 15%).
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— Huge discount
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The dismal performance of the investment funds and their fund managers is probably the reason why most of the large companies are currently trading at a near 50% discount compared to their NAV, while the average discount for the whole sector according to the Financial Mirror estimates is 28.2%.
Demetra is trading at 48% discount to its NAV, Interfund at 41%, Athena at 48%, Cytrustees at 45%, while Jupiter has a discount of 58% based on mid-January prices. Apollo and Dodoni also trade at a 39% and 48% respective discounts compared to their NAVs.
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— Top five
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Demetra Investments is the largest investment fund listed on the CSE with total assets amounting to EUR 269.3 mln by end of 2007, having lifted its total assets by EUR 23.5 mln during the year.
Interfund is the second largest fund with EUR 95.9 mln assets, followed by Athena with EUR 94.6 mln and Cytrustees in fourth place with EUR 78.8 mln under management. The fifth largest investment fund is Jupiter with total assets of EUR 50.8 mln, followed by Apollo in sixth place with total assets of EUR 47 mln and Dodoni with total assets of EUR 44.5 mln by end December 2007.
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— Shrinking numbers
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During the year, Leda and Laser Investments were acquired by Aspis Holdings or people closely associated with the group and exited out of the Approved Investments sector.
There was also strong M&A activity involving investment companies. Bank of Cyprus acquired majority control of Cytrustees and a controlling stake in Interfund, while Hellenic Bank acquired majority control of Athena Investments.
SFS Group acquired majority control of Triena Investments, while Confine and Finikas completed their merger in 2007, with Confine changing its name to Finikas Amochostou Investments.
An increasing number of investment companies received permission from the stock market authorities to diversify into other investments, namely real estate in
