Private equity funds say Romanian assets are among the most expensive in Central and Eastern Europe, after the limited number of companies and sectors with growth potential tipped the balance in favour of local entrepreneurs. "Romanian assets are almost 20% more expensive than those in Poland and the Czech Republic. This is due to the fact that there is a limited number of companies which generate interest for private equity investors, prompting investors to look for the same potential transactions, and Romanian entrepreneurs are keeping the price high," Robert Conn (photo), co-founder of Innova Capital, a Polish private equity firm that manages over 500 million euros, told ZF. Polish-based Innova entered the local market in 1999 when it acquired Orange Telecom, a company sold six years later to France Telecom. La Fantana is the second deal conducted by Innova in Romania. The deal was worth 35 million euros, and took place last summer. Another complaint about the high prices paid for Romanian companies comes from Robert Luke, managing director of Spanish-based GED Capital Management, who says the local market is one of the toughest in the region from the point of view of private equity investors, because the players are pushing the prices of transactions very high. The president of private equity fund manager SigmaBleyzer, Michael Bleyzer says in one of the interviews given to ZF that the price asked by Romanian entrepreneurs for their businesses has become much too high compared to their actual value.
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