Axxess Capital has launched the Emerging Europe Accession Fund (EEAF), with a targeted capitalization of EUR 150 million, which will invest in Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. The fund, managed by the same team which runs the Balkan Accession Fund (BAF), had a first close at EUR 94 million. The Fund’s main investors are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Fund (EIF), Acquina Partners – a Swiss-based private institutional investor, accompanied by the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank and DEG, the German Investment and Development Company, as well as by some US individual investors.

The managment team is led by Horia Manda (in picture), the managing director of Axxess Capital and includes investment professionals with experience in the region who will operate from the offices in Bucharest, Sofia and Istanbul.

EEAF will invest in private businesses in South Eastern Europe, with a main focus on the EU countries in the region - Romania and Bulgaria but also on Turkey – the EU candidate. It will target equity investment addressing lower mid-market well-established companies, enjoying competitive advantages and good growth prospects in their industries and across the region. The fund's management will consider investments in the range of EUR 5-20 million in most of the sectors where it has been previously successful with a special attention to B2B services, manufacturing, logistics and distribution, financial services, healthcare, IT&C.

EEAF is designed to take advantage of the crisis-generated value opportunities with strong medium-to-long-term growth potential as well as of the convergence play in the region, said Horia Manda.

Romania-insider.com