|
EBRD invests in Baltic investment fund to support region’s private companies
The Project
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), will invest up to €10 million in the Baltic Investment Fund III LP, a private equity fund that will invest in medium-sized companies in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The fund, which has a target size of €50 million, follows on from the successful Baltic Investment Fund I & II, in which the EBRD is an investor
Project Objective
The fund will invest cash equity in medium-sized companies, with the objective of promoting the growth of the portfolio companies and achieving an attractive return over the medium term. Investment proceeds will be used to finance the expansion of successful companies or those that the fund considers have attractive potential.
The investment advisor will take an active role in the strategic development of portfolio companies, including the promotion of good corporate governance. The fund will be represented on the Board of each portfolio company, where it will impose high working standards, making it clear that business conduct within a market-oriented economy must be legitimate, transparent and in accordance with sound business practices.
Comment (by Kurt Geiger, EBRD Business Group Director for the Financial Institutions Team)
"By supporting successful private equity funds and fund managers in central and eastern Europe, the EBRD can help shape a stronger and more competitive private sector. The Baltic Investment Fund will help companies across a variety of industry sectors in the region move toward greater integration with European markets."
Fund background:
The fund is a limited partnership registered in Jersey, the Channel Islands. The investment advisor is BaltCap Management Ltd, a fund management company registered in Finland. The fund sponsors include SITRA (Finnish National Fund for Research and Development, Finland), CapMan Capital Management Oy (Finland) and Suprema Securities Ltd (Baltics). Investors include a number of Finnish financial institutions and other financial institutions based in the UK.
|
