CORRESPONDENCE FROM LONDON BSE, on the agendas of foreign investors in London

The overly busy schedules of about 20 foreign investors yesterday included the words "take a look at what the BSE has to offer", while attending an event in the heart of London.

They came, they talked and they quickly went to their next important meetings, with few of them leaving with a clear notion about the BSE, at least according to their rushed statements. Besides, all they had to see was just eight Romanian companies, although, granted they were the most important.

The conference "Romanian Day" in London was organized by the Bucharest Stock Exchange and Franklin Templeton, yesterday, in a five star hotel, which used to host the Court of Magistrates, and included a session of presentations and one of bilateral meetings with the Romanian managers.

All investors care about is their own money, therefore some of them only attended the event to meet the managers of the Romanian companies.

"I don"t know much about Romania", said a representative of "Charlemagne", referring to the the state of our economy. He added: "I haven"t attended the presentations; I went to the bilateral meetings with the managers of the listed companies. Them, I knew. We are watching several companies such as Petrom and BRD. Our overall opinion on these companies is positive".

The presentation session has also included the description of the status of Romania"s macroeconomics, made by Cristian Popa, deputy governor BNR.

"Popa was magnificent", one of the attendees told us, who added that the manner in which the NBR official presented Romania"s economy galvanized the audience.

Please note! - It was Popa who was magnificent, not the economy ...

• Investors, advised to buy Romanian financial stocks

Investors who attended the event received a report on Romania and Romanian companies, drawn up by "Wood Company". The brokerage firm recommends buying shares of BRD, Banca Transilvania and the SIFs (Financial Investment Companies). According to Wood, the banking sector is set to benefit the most from an economic recovery. Out of the two banks, BRD has the largest ROE -return on equity in the region (ed. note: almost 20% for the 2011-2013 period, according to estimates), whereas Banca Transilvania trades below its book value and remains a very likely target for a takeover.

Wood has a positive outlook on Romania"s economy: "Romania"s economy is slowly recovering from the crisis, after two years of reforms and austerity measures, under the monitoring of the IMF and the EU. The worries over the social and political instability were not confirmed, and the country is exiting the recession with a leaner government apparatus (even though the restructuring of the system still has a long way to go) and with increased efficiency".

The main risks that remain are the still significant exposure of banks to consumer loans (which still affects the quality of assets), delays in the elimination of the holding cap and the inability of managers to liquidate portfolios and increase their values.