Cristian Nacu, a partner with Polish investment fund Enterprise Investors, says he is in advanced talks for 2-3 takeovers on the domestic market, after last year he failed to seal any acquisitions, but exited the Artima business.
"Last year we had several projects that either haven't been completed yet, or failed. We are medium and long-term investors, and this year-start hasn't changed our strategy at all," says Nacu.
Romania, he continued, has always been the second country in terms of growth potential, after Poland, and funds have been earmarked with this factor in mind.
"Keeping the previous proportion, we hope to invest between 50 and 100m euros each year. Should we manage to strike one or two deals, this means this is a highly successful year because at this level it's hard to do more. Negotiations only last between 6 and 9 months," says Nacu.
The domains Enterprise Investors are looking at are retail, constructions-related industries and financial services. "We prefer majority stakes, but should the partners we identify be credible, we may also accept minority stakes (...)," explained Nacu.
The fund holds negotiations with two categories of entrepreneurs: on the one hand, those who created a businesses and structured it with a view to exiting right from the start, but are aware of the real value, and on the other hand, those who invested in a family business, for whom financial value is determined by sentimental value.
Last year, Enterprise Investors sold the 100% in the Artima network to Carrefour after only two years of investments. "The exit from Artima multiplied our money three times. It was a very good project, which was achieved in a very short time interval. There were two years during which sales tripled, the number of stores rose from 14 to 21. On the other hand, though, growth during this interval was robust and we thought it may not continue at the same rate," said Nacu.
The investment fund also owns construction materials producer Macon Deva, which, according to Nacu, has yet to reach maturity.
"We hope the company's value will have tripled when we choose to exit. We plan to sell 4-5 years after the acquisition," added Nacu. In addition, the fund also owns a stake in Siveco Romania.
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