OFE invest in debutantes

In 2014, the Polish private pension funds (OFEs) were interested in buying shares of manufacturing and logistics companies, daily Parkiet reported. The most popular ones were last year’s WSE debutantes such as Alumetal, Prime Car Management, Polwax, MFO and Vistal, as well as Bumech, which has been listed since 2009. The funds invested the most money in Bumech and Alumetal, in which OFEs hold 37.8 percent and 30 percent of the total stock, respectively. OFEs' stakes in WIG20 companies rose by 46 percent after the government forced OFEs to redeem all treasury bonds last year. The funds invested mostly in such big blue chips as Orlen (energy), PKO BP (banking) and PZU (insurance). At the end of 2014, OFEs had shares worth around PLN 123.9 billion, 1.1 percent less than a year before, but the percentage of shares in their portfolios has doubled over the past year. Due to the government's decision to give over a part of OFEs' assets to The Social Insurance Institution (ZUS), the funds begun to invest more in shares. “OFEs are becoming practically share funds,” Maricn Materna from Millenium brokerage said.