Poland’s PFR Ventures invests EUR75m in four PE funds

Submitted 22/02/2021 - 5:22pm

PFR Ventures has announced its newest commitment into private equity funds with four investment vehicles receiving EUR75 million in funding from the Polish LP Investor. 

These funds are either global or pan-European and invest worldwide, in the region and locally. With the recent additions, PFR Ventures has committed to seven private equity funds in total.

“PFR Ventures supports growth of Polish companies through PE and VC investments. We are fulfilling this mission by investing with Polish and international teams. We are also supporting Polish private equity managers, helping them with international visibility and expansion, as well as with fundraising abroad. We hope that in the future the volume of investment capital in Poland will be further expanded with participation from pension funds, just like it is in the US, Canada, the EU, and elsewhere in the world,” says Maciej Ćwikiewicz, CEO of PFR Ventures. “Our commitment to supporting the private equity sector follows our successes in Poland’s venture capital market, which is best measured by its growth. Only last year local and international VC firms have invested over EUR470 million in Polish early-stage tech startups. Poland already has plenty of growing companies with the potential to achieve even more through private equity investment, with the recent successful IPO of InPost being just one example.”

The four recent investments in private equity funds include vehicles advised by British Apax Partners, French PAI Partners, Polish Avallon MBO and one undisclosed fund that will be announced in the near future. Apax Partners is a leading global private equity firm with a strong European heritage and successful track-record of identifying growth investments in a region and a strong focus in tech & telco, services, healthcare and consumer sectors. PAI Partners is a European fund with history dating back to the founding of Paribas, from which it was spun out. The fund has been focused on Western Europe and is known for its long history without losing capital in a single investment.

PFR Ventures has also invested in Polish private equity fund Avallon MBO, a local team focused on management buyouts (MBO). Avallon has already started fundraising for its third investment vehicle. The first two funds have invested in companies including Velvet Care, one of the largest manufacturers of hygiene products in Poland and GoodFood, a leading manufacturer of rice, corn and grain snacks, exporting its products across EMEA and APAC. 

“Recent commitments to Apax and PAI have secured our exposure to top quartile (or even decile) managers, each of which is a specialist and best in the world within their focused strategies. For PAI Partners, the new Fund also represents new strategy: to develop an investee into a leader and grow it internationally. This is precisely what we want to accomplish with Polish companies while at the same time achieve above average returns. We will continue investing in the best local, Polish and international Funds,” says Michał Gładyś, Investment Director at PFR Ventures, who oversees PE investments.

The four new funds have joined the existing, well performing private equity portfolio of PFR Ventures. Poland’s fund of funds has already invested in regionally focused vehicles, managed by Mezzanine Management, Innova, and Value4Capital. PFR Ventures also plans additional commitments in 2021 and a long-term continuation of the program maintaining this trajectory. 
 

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