Baltic Fund celebrates 10 years

Jul 01, 2008
By Mike Collier

BIRTHDAY BOY: Aivaras Abramovicius has overseen a spectacular return

RIGA - A 10-year return of more than 700 percent is the sort of thing to make investors pinch themselves in case they are dreaming, but anyone who put money into a new fund called the East Capital Baltic Fund a decade ago will be wide awake and enjoying reality.

The East Capital Baltic Fund is celebrating its tenth anniversary with gains of +724% (USD) since inception on 30 June 1998. The benchmark Baltic 30 Index has posted gains of 332% (USD) for the same period.

The figures give a timely reminder that despite the current atmosphere of uncertainty, the Baltic has been a happy hunting ground for investors for a long time now. Even recent losses have been modest compared to the years of supercharged growth that preceded them.

”We are still a very active fund manager in the Baltics. We have been investing in the region for ten years now and have long-term faith in its growth,” says Aivaras Abromavicius, partner at East Capital, which recently held a high-profile summit in Vilnius to mark its ongoing commitment to the region.

”Although the economic downturn we are currently witnessing is noticeable on the stock markets, it is actually necessary in order to shake off the imbalances that have built up over recent years due to the very high growth levels. We think that the growth will return and that it will be more balanced and sustainable,” says Marcus Svedberg, East Capital’s Chief Economist.

The fund is focused on the domestic growth sectors, with consumer goods, banking and retail being the most dominant. The fund's country breakdown is currently: 58% Lithuanian, 25% Estonian and 16% Latvian investments. The fund has a total of approximately USD 160m under management.

East Capital is an independent asset manager specialising in Eastern European financial markets and managing EUR 4.4bn across 29 countries.

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