Polish Enterprise Fund, one of the main regional investment funds operating in Romania is in talks to complete two transactions worth 20 million euros on the Romanian market this year, Jacek Siwicki, managing partner with Enterprise Investors (the company managing the fund) said yesterday in Bucharest.
According to market information, Polish Enterprise Fund is in talks to buy a significant stake in household appliances retailer Flanco. Moreover, according to the same sources, the fund may also buy a stake in the consumer finance company Credison, following a capital increase.
Flanco and Credison have similar shareholding structures, as they are both held by investment funds Oresa Ventures and Danube Fund and by businessman Florin Andronescu.
The purchase of some 33% in Flanco by Polish Enterprise Fund is estimated to be worth about 10-15 million euros.
Siwicki would not comment on the above-mentioned information and would not disclose the sectors targeted for the 20m-euro investment, either. Still, the Polish manager did say the company mainly operated in consumer finance, retail, telecoms and the pharmaceutical industry.
"We have been operating for a very long time in these sectors and we are already acting as a semi-strategic investor. In Romania, for instance, we scoured the market for investment opportunities in supermarket chains and we even were in advanced talks to enter this business, but negotiations were never completed," Siwicki said.
Polish Enterprise Fund only has one investment in Romania, worth about 20 million euros - indirect stockholder in mobile telephony operator Orange. The fund's exposure in Romania can be deemed as very small, as Enterprise Investors invested more than 600 million euros in Central and Eastern Europe, through the Polish Enterprise Funds (I, II, I
