Oresa Ventures, one of the most active investment funds on the Romanian market is about to undergo an international change of shareholders. The fund is now held by Medicover, a medical service company listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. The buyer, in case the current shareholders approved the deal yesterday, will be another corporate entity, Celox, controlled by one of the richest Swedish businessmen, Jonas af Jochnick.
Jonas af Jochnick is actually the founder of Oresa Ventures, a fund that sprang to life in 1997 by investing about $84 million in several industries in Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and Russia.
The most important company of the fund, Medicover, witnessed an explosive development so that the Oresa shareholders changed the strategy, deciding to attach more importance to healthcare services.
Oresa Ventures SA therefore turned into Medicover Holding SA and went public on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.
The other interests of the fund were grouped under the Oresa Ventures NV name, which was later to become Medicover's investment arm.
Oresa Ventures NV indirectly holds 47.4% in Flanco International (home appliance retailer) in Romania, as well as 30.3% in Churchill Media (outdoor advertising). It sold the Motoractive leasing company to another investment fund - Romanian American Enterprise Fund in late last year.
Medicover shareholders debated selling all interests of Oresa Ventures NV upon floatation, in order to "purge" the balance sheet of the company, which was to commit itself to healthcare services.
The economic recession in the recent years, which led to a decline in the M&A market, made it impossible to sell the interests one at a time, so that shareholders decided to sell the entire Oresa Ventures NV in a single transaction.
Medicover at the end of last year contacted 20 potential buyers, but only 4 of them eventually expressed interest in moving to talks. Only one informative bid was submitted in the end and was worth $8 million.
The assets of the fund are assessed at $11.6 million, therefore the Medicover managers rejected the offer.
Jonas af Jochnick's Celox offered $12 million for Oresa Ventures at the end of last year. The price became final on December 1, as no other offers had been received in the meantime.
Celox was holding more than 30% in Medicover early last year. It has one more investment in Romania, as well, the drinking water service company La Fantana.
Oresa Ventures NV's takeover by Celox will be done only in case the General Meeting of the Medicover shareholders approves it.
Oresa Ventures was part of the most impressive deal of the investment funds in Romania: the sale of Brewery Holdings (three breweries) to the Austria-based Brau Union for 165 million euros. Oresa was one of Brewery Holdings shareholders along with two other investment funds, with the yield of the business estimated at more than 100% at that moment.
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