Sep 24 2008
International Investing: Crossing Borders
In my last post, I noted that Krakow was “under construction.” Well, I’d like to extend that to more than just the city. There was barely a road I travelled on that wasn’t coned off and rerouted for some kind of improvement.
And one of the reasons Poland is spending so much time updating its infrastructure and roads is to become more attractive to foreign investors.
On one stretch of highway, I saw two major manufacturing plants: BASF (BAS:Frankfurt) and Daewoo (004550:Korea).
Interestingly, the Slovak roads are in much better condition. Investment is still going strong, though, and one major private investor is expanding a huge resort here in the High Tatras, in the Pieniny National Park.
Now, that brings up an interesting point to growing so quickly…
And sometimes, fast growth comes at the cost of quality. Take this picture of the Czorsztyn-Niedzica-Sromowce Complex for example. This is the dam provides only half the electricity it could have had it been built right. It was finished in 1994 and has a capacity of 160 million kWh of generation a year. That’s less than what Rhode Island uses in a month…
So, not all the rules are being followed. Even my guide book has a little note on it. In talking about Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, the Lonely Planet says:
As post-EU-membership investment pours in, the whir of construction equipment in all quarters of Slovakia’s capital is growing… There’s something a bit reckless about the development, though. Zoning laws are largely ignored and and odd mix of antireform-minded parties took control of the parliament in June 2006.
But Slovakia is certainly breaking away from the past, and it’s financial markets are trying to do the same. The SAX Index on the Bratislava Stock Exchange (BSSE) has climbed 3.54% in August, year over year.
That said, investors considering the Slovak exchange need to be extra dilligent. The BSSE has three different markets: the main listed market, the parallel listed market, and the regulated free market. It gets a bit confusing, and to top it off, most investors aren’t looking at companies… They’re looking at debt.
Also, as the first half of the year has been extremely scary for the rest of the world, the same goes for Slovakia, too.
If you’re interested in looking further at how the market has performed, check out the Semi-Annual Fackbook 2008. Lots of great information there. I’ll be digging through it for the next few days to see if there are any gems worth taking a closer look.
As of now, a better bet might be to look at the international companies investing in the area. Of course, technology and electronics companies are flocking to this region, like Canon (CAJ:NYSE), Ericsson (ERIC:Nasdaq), and Motorola (MOT:NYSE), and automanufacturing is also a big sector. You’ll recognize names like Nissan (NSANY:Nasdaq), Renault (RNO:Paris), Volvo (VOLV B: OMX Nordic Exchange).
With the euro coming in January, 2009, this place is on the tip of a lot of people’s tongues, and investors already have their ears to the door.
