OTP Asset Management Romania launches OTP Innovation open-end ESG investments’ fund

OTP Asset Management Romania has launched OTP Innovation Fund, the first fund in Romania that offers the possibility to invest, internationally, in companies that allocate a significant share of their revenues for Research & Development (R&D).

OTP Innovation intends to have a diversified portfolio on various sectors, so the investments will be directed to companies in various areas of activity, such as technology, bio-pharmaceutical,
e-commerce, automotive, etc.

All these companies allocate important budgets (in ratio with their turnover) to the financing of R&D programs. R&D includes activities that companies undertake in order to innovate and introduce new products and services with a positive effect, both on society as a whole and on the financial performance of the respective companies. To identify these companies, OTP Asset Management Romania uses an important indicator – R&D intensity. This indicator is defined as the ratio of a firm’s R&D expenses versus the company’s sales.

“Even though there is a strong emotion at this time about the war in Ukraine, we are positioning ourselves as long-term investors, so our strategy, investment policy and concerns are firmly anchored in the future. Our responsibility is to currently manage the funds from our portfolio in a professional manner, but also to have a wide-angle view of the opportunities that will bring added value to our customers’ investments, in the future,” said Dan Popovici, CEO, OTP Asset Management Romania. Regarding the launch of this fund and aspects related to ESG criteria, he consideres that “the fund represents an opportunity to align customers’ investments with personal values”.

OTP Innovation addresses to retail and institutional clients who are willing to accept a high degree market risk and want to invest in companies with medium to long-term growth potential. The recommended investment period is of minimum 3 years.

Investors may use two different classes of fund units, Class L for investments in lei and Class E, for euro. The minimum amount required to invest in Class L is 50 lei, for Class E it is 50 euros, and for subsequent subscriptions, 50 lei and, respectively, 10 euros. The fund will be distributed through OTP Bank Romania’s branch network and the Internet Banking platform, OTPdirekt.