CEE/CIS 1H 2017 Insight

During the first half of 2017, fund managers invested US$2.5 billion in CEE and CIS, representing the region’s largest first-half investment total since 2008. Much of the capital invested in the region so far this year comes from pan-European managers such as Cinven and Permira, which both participated in the US$2 billion investment round in Allegro. Overall, 38% of managers investing in CEE and CIS in 1H 2017 have pan-European or multi-regional remits, an increase from 31% of managers in 2016 and just 27% in 2015. Conversely, Central European fund managers drove exit activity in the region. Managers focused on the region completed IPOs on public exchanges in Turkey, Poland and Romania since December, as well as a listing by Mid Europa Partners of Hungarian logistics platform Waberer’s in Budapest in early Q3 2017. Of these countries, only Poland had previously recorded a PE-backed IPO since EMPEA began reporting exit statistics in 2008. This uptick in public market exits suggests a growing maturity of both the managers and markets within CEE and CIS.

UK General Election Impact on Brexit: Overview of Events for EM PE Funds

The UK has had its first general election since it voted to leave the European Union (EU) last year, just weeks ahead of the start of Brexit negotiation talks. The asset management industry continues to face a period of uncertainty whilst we wait to see how the UK/EU relationship will take shape, particularly what it might mean for UK and EU investor appetite for emerging market private equity funds. This article gives an update on the implications—if any—that the UK’s general election on 8 June 2017 has on Brexit and provides an overview of the current state of affairs.

Download the full article here. 

Response to Call for Evidence ESMA: AIFMD Passport and Third Country AIFMs

EMPEA respects ESMA’s mission to gather input on the key issues that will determine the orientation of ESMA’s opinion to the European Parliament. EMPEA is mindful of ESMA’s responsibility to submit an opinion to the European Commission on the following matters by 22 July 2015: 1) the functioning of the EU passport under the AIFMD; and 2) the functioning of the marketing of non-EU AIFs by EU AIFMs in the EU and the management and/or marketing of AIFs by non-EU AIFMs in the EU (under the national private placement regimes); and 3) whether the current passporting regime should be extended to the management and/or marketing of AIFs by non-EU AIFMs and to the marketing of non-EU AIFs by EU AIFMs. EMPEA has focused this submission on point 3. Our GP members with direct experience of points 1 and 2 note their strong agreement with EVCA’s submission on these points. We stand ready to provide whatever further contribution to this work the Commission might find helpful, including attending meetings and contributing further materials in writing.

Read EMPEA’s full submission and response here. 

EMPEA’s Response to HM Treasury’s Proposal

EMPEA welcomes the opportunity to respond to HM Treasury’s Proposal on using Legislative Reform Order to change partnership legislation for private equity investments (July 2015) and submits this response on behalf of its members.  In summary, EMPEA strongly supports the proposed reforms and believes that they will ensure the continued commercial viability of English and Scottish limited partnerships as private fund vehicles and, thereby, will improve the competitiveness of the United Kingdom as a jurisdiction of choice for (UK and foreign) private fund managers. In addition, we have reviewed the response prepared by the BVCA. We support and second that response.

Read EMPEA’s full response here. 

EMPEA Submission: BEIS Scotland Call for Evidence: Review of Limited Partnership Law

Limited partnerships are the vehicle of choice for private equity and venture capital funds, and both English and Scottish limited partnerships are commonly used to bring significant economic benefit in emerging markets across the globe.In summary, it is our view that, if limited partnerships are being used as an enabler of criminal activity, this should be tackled primarily using existing investigative and enforcement powers. Given the significant use of Scottish limited partnerships for legitimate enterprises, we would strongly advocate against increasing regulatory and compliance burdens on limited partnerships. In addition, we have reviewed the response prepared by the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (“BVCA”). We support and second that response.

Download EMPEA’s full response here. 

ESMA’s Latest Advice on AIFMD: Extending the AIFMD Marketing Passport to Non-EU Fund Managers

ESMA published Advice to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on the application of the AIFMD passport to non-EU AIFMs in July, 2015. On July 18, 2016, ESMA published its further Advice addressing the possibility of extending the AIFMD marketing passport to non-EU based fund managers, and the non-EU countries which could be able to benefit from the passport. In 2015 ESMA published advice on six non-EU countries, setting out that the AIFMD passport could be extended to Jersey, Guernsey and potentially Switzerland, but noting that further consideration was needed to be given to the US, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Read the full article here. 

Assessing Challenges and Opportunities for Private Equity in Russia and CIS

Private equity in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) has been buffeted in recent months and years by successive political and economic crises, most notably currency depreciation, declining oil prices, economic estrangement from Europe and military conflict in Ukraine. Indeed, between 2014 and 2015 the Russian ruble depreciated significantly against the U.S. dollar, while crude oil prices fell from more than US$60 a barrel to less than US$40 a barrel (see Exhibit 1). In EMPEA’s 2015 Global Limited Partners Survey, Russia and the CIS was ranked as the least attractive emerging market region for investment in the coming years by limited partners. However, as many investors can attest, the best deals are often struck when markets are struggling rather than booming. During 2015, the consumer services and technology sectors showed particular promise, attracting the majority of both capital invested and the number of deals (see Exhibit 2). In this Views from the Field, veteran fund managers and investors in Russia and the CIS share their assessment of the state of private equity in the region and their outlook for the asset class going forward.

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Evaluating the State of the Venture Capital Market in Turkey with Cem Baytok, Managing Partner, idaCapital

The Turkish VC market is at the tipping point of major growth. In the last two years, noteworthy technology acquisitions have been completed (e.g., Germany-based online food delivery company Delivery Hero’s US$589 million acquisition of Turkey-based online food delivery company Yemeksepeti); Turkish entrepreneurs have shown success in Silicon Valley (e.g., Turkey-based online learning platform Udemy); and most importantly, a vibrant market economy has driven the emergence of new start-ups and helped them to create, on average, 10 to 20x enterprise value growth in Turkey, according to market analytics company Startups.watch.

Read the full article here.