Francisc Bodo, former chief investment officer with GED private equity company, says the exit from Continental Hotels was the most difficult deal he has participated in, with the listing of the hotel chain being hampered by the insufficient supply in the field of investment banking services.
Bodo gave up his career in the private equity field to enter the consulting services market with his own company, Bodo Consulting.
"I was an employee at GED and now I've become an entrepreneur. I like being close to the action and making decisions on a rapidly changing market. My parting with private equity marked the passage from value adding to value creation," confesses the former manager of GED, a private equity company with placements of above 100m euros on the domestic market.
In his over 11 years of career with Spain's GED private equity company, Bodo was involved in major investment projects, such as those related to Sicomed, Arctic home appliances retailer, IRIDE business park and Continental Hotels hotel chain.
In the late '90s, the Romanian Post-Privatisation Fund (FRRP), managed by GED and in which the EBRD held 57%, acquired 20% in Continental Hotels from Radu Enache, owner of the chain.
"The exit from Continental Hotels was the most difficult deal as our agreement with Radu Enache included an IPO with a view to floatation on the Stock Exchange, scheduled for 2006. However, the higher demand than supply in the field of investment banking and Transelectrica listing postponed the IPO," says Bodo.
In the autumn of 2006, FRRP administrators had to sell the stake held by Enache.
Another deal Bodo will not forget easily is Sicomed, this time because it was one of GED's most lucrative investments domestically. In 2005, GED exited Sicomed's shareholding structure in the wake of a 200m-euro deal.
Private equity funds bring an efficiency and profitability plus to companies they make investments in. More specifically, the respective firms are as much as 30% more profitable than regular domestic companies.
The rapidly rising productivity and income are not due only to capital inflows and investments private equity funds come with, but especially to the establishment of some clear targets and concrete deadlines that need to be reached in the 3-5 years the fund "stays" with the company.
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
