"The Romanian market is interesting for us, moreover we see Central and Eastern Europe as the new main investment market for EQT. It is hard to say how much EQT will invest in Romania and in the region, each investment opportunity is looked at in detail, regardless of the investments made in the past. However, we estimate substantial investment volumes in the entire region over the coming years," Johan Hahnel, representative of EQT Partners' communication department told ZIARUL FINANCIAR. Focusing mainly on northern Europe, where deals amount to up to one billion euros, EQT recently entered Central and Eastern Europe and opened an office in Warsaw, Poland. The presence of the Swedes in Poland is the result of newly identified investment opportunities, and is also important in terms of the companies held in the portfolio that may expand or make acquisitions in the region. EQT Partners manages 11 investment funds under the EQT umbrella, whose assets stand at 11 billion euros, and which have invested 7 billion euros in more than 70 companies thus far.
"The expansion of EQT in Eastern Europe had been planned for a long time and was not influenced by the financial crisis," Hahnel went on.
EQT's targets are medium-sized companies, which are leaders on their respective markets, generate cash flows, and prove they have a valuable management team. The sectors of interest include infrastructure, telecommunications, construction supplies, pharmaceuticals and the food industry.
"We are interested in investment opportunities in non-cyclical sectors, family businesses that are looking for a partner for international expansion, large acquisitions and even the repositioning of a company on the market. We are also taking into account public-private type of deals," the EQT representative said.
The entry of the Swedish private equity fund on the local market could happen via an investment in construction supplies distributor Ambient, based in Sibiu. Sources on the market say that EQT has been in talks for a while to buy a significant stake in Ambient. Both EQT and Ambient officials declined to comment on the information at hand.
Swedish EQT fund is one of the big names in the private equity business, like Carlyle and Bridgepoint, funds that are increasingly interested in Central and Eastern Europe; the first step they usually take is to open an office in Warsaw.
The Warsaw office of the US giant Carlyle has employed a Romanian, Dan Farcasanu, while EQT representatives recruited for Central and Eastern Europe in summer.
One of the requirements of the job was to speak fluent Romanian, with the applicant also required to be willing to move to Bucharest to help open an office.
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