November 6 (SeeNews) - Private equity funds invested in Romania approximately 110 million euro ($160.2 million) in 2006 and this year's figure is expected to be almost the same, the president of the South Eastern Europe Private Equity Association (SEEPEA), Robert Luke, said on Tuesday.
Investments by equity funds in Romania totalled 70 million euro in 2005 under SEEPEA estimates.
Construction industry, healthcare and retail remain the sectors of the Romanian economy most preferred by foreign investors, Luke, who is also managing director of Spanish private equity group GED, told a news conference.
"Tourism is another sector with potential to become equity funds' target. By the end of November GED is to complete an acquisition of a Romanian company involved in the tourism business," Luke told reporters but did not elaborate.
GED began investing in Romania in 1996, establishing the Eastern Fund I, also known as Romanian Post Privatisation Fund (RPPF), with co-funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Union's PHARE pre-accession programme. Investments totalled 44 million euro.
At the end of May, announcing the closure of RPPF, GED said it had raised 95 million euro.
Currently there are more than two billion euro available for investments by equity funds in Central and Eastern Europe, compared to some 200 million 10 years ago, Luke said.
SEEPEA was established in 2005 by GED Capital Development, Romanian American Enterprise Fund and France's Societe Generale Asset Management to represent capital investors willing to operate in Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania.
($ = 0.6867 euro)