Enterprise Investors wants to launch its eighth investment fund this year

Enterprise Investors (EI), one of the largest companies of private equity in Central and Eastern Europe, intends to launch a new investment fund this year, its eighth, which is targeted at several countries in the region, including Romania.

"Since we plan to fully invest the capital owned by Polish Enterprise Fund VI throughout 2011, we will begin raising funding for our next buyout fund, Polish Enterprise Fund VII, in mid-2011 ", a report by the company states.

According to older statements of the company"s officials, quoted by Mediafax, the capitalization of the new investment vehicle will exceed the previous one. Polish Enterprise Fund VI, launched in 2006, raised 658 million Euros.

In most cases, through its venture capital funds, EI invests at least 30-50 million Euros in exchange for majority stakes of up to 100% of the targeted companies. The targeted sector include retail, pharma, consumer goods, construction material, financial services etc.

The company has two active investment funds - Polish Enterprise Fund VI and Enterprise Venture Fund I (EVF I), which last year concluded deals worth 142 million Euros.

In Romania, the company has only invested three million Euros in 2010, through EVF I, in Smartree Romania, which operates on the human resources outsourcing business, previously owned by businessman Eric Kis. The fund initially bought 56% of the shares of Smartree to finance the company"s development, and by the end of the year it had increased its stake to 100%.

In total, EI invested so far 160 million Euro in Romanian companies operating in various sectors, including Macon Deva, Siveco and Profi.

Enterprise Investors manages seven funds, with the total capital raised amounting to 1.7 billion Euros. At the end of 2010, the funds managed by Enterprise Investors have invested a total of 1.4 billion Euros in 121 companies operating in several sectors. This includes 946 million Euros invested in 105 companies of Poland and 455 million Euros invested in 16 companies in the region.

The EI funds currently hold shares in 29 companies, which had approximately 20,000 employees and had a total turnover of approximately 2 billion Euros. The funds managed by EI sold their stakes in 92 companies, making a profit of 1.5 billion Euros, (of which 358 million Euros were earned on investments outside Poland).

Investors in the EI funds include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, MetLife, Swiss Life, Frank Russell, GE and Allianz.