Private Equity News
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
09 September 2009
Moscow-based private equity start-up Quadro Capital Partners has so far raised $200m (€139m) for its first fund amid signs that the moribund fundraising market in Russia is recovering.
Quadro was formed in April by Giedrius Pukas, the former managing director of Troika Capital Partners who quit the alternative asset manager subsidiary after a dispute over the running of the business with Ruben Vardanian, the majority owner of parent investment bank Troika Dialog.
Pukas, who has been joined at Quadro by former Troika Capital directors Vladimir Kozlov and Nikolay Sergeev, said: “We tried to buy the business from Reuben but he wouldn’t let us so we set up Quadro on our own. We have so far raised $200m (€138m) and we have a target of $350m.”
The fund, which includes several investors in Troika’s private equity funds, will invest in distressed debt and across the consumer, lifestyle and finance sectors.
Quadro joins a host of other funds raising private equity funds in the country. Russia Partners has recently raised an $800m fund while new player PPF Partners announced in June it had raised €615m ($891m) to invest in assets in central and eastern Europe, with Russia the key market.
UFG and Delta, which are closing in on final merger talks, are both currently trying to raise funds. Many of the commitments made by investors to UFG’s Private Equity Fund 11 were generated by Boris Fedorov, the firm’s founder who died late last year. A source close to the firm said some investors had withdrawn since Fedorov’s death.
Aim-listed Aurora Investment Advisors has recently raised £50m for its second fund which will be primarily used to reinvest in its current investments.
James Cook, joint founder of Aurora, believes a demand for private equity financing will return as companies who survived the crisis seek fresh capital to grow.
He said: “We are seeing heavily reduced valuations which will likely yield high returns for private equity capital invested in 2009/10. As companies continue to find debt financing hard to secure, there is increasing demand for private equity capital to finance growth.”
Private equity deals have been thin on the ground over the past two quarters as funds had their allocations reduced or pressure was exerted by limited partners not to draw down commitments for investment. However, last week it was reported that US buyout fund TPG and the Russian state bank VTB had bought a 35.4% stake in Russian hypermarket chain Lenta for about $115m.
TPG is thus far the only international buyout fund with an office in Moscow but has found deals elusive. In the summer of 2007, a protracted deal to acquire the grocer Seventh Continent collapsed over price, while in April last year, TPG signed a contract to buy half of SIA International, Russia's largest pharmaceutical distributor, for $800m. TPG later withdrew and paid a fine of $50m.
Showing posts with label Giedrius Pukas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Giedrius Pukas. Show all posts
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Troika Dialog Managers Leave Firm; Layoffs on Tap
WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE
May 29, 2009
By JASON CORCORAN and HARRY WILSON
Two senior managers have left Troika Dialog after a tumultuous nine months for the Moscow-based financial group that included a collapse in Russian stock prices and the sale of a stake to Standard Bank Group Ltd. in March.
The chief executive of Troika Dialog's U.K. business, Howard Snell, has resigned. Giedrius Pukas, the managing director of Troika Capital Partners, the group's alternative-asset-management division, is leaving with a senior team to launch his own firm, according to the bank.
Mr. Snell resigned from Troika this week but will remain on the board of directors of the U.K. business for a couple of months. He said he would take the next months off to assess his options. Two people close to the situation said his departure wasn't connected to a Troika program to reduce its head count.
Mr. Pukas, who is leaving along with two colleagues, joined Troika in early 2004 and said he was leaving with a senior team to set up an investment and private-equity firm called Quadro Capital Partners.
His responsibilities as managing director and chief investment officer of Troika Capital Partners are to be divided between Mikhail Broitman, managing director of the strategic-projects division, and Kanako Sekine, who joined as chief operating officer last year.
A spokeswoman for Troika Dialog said, "Troika Capital Partners initiated a separation with Giedrius Pukas. As a result of a semiannual performance review of staff, a number of Troika Dialog group employees were terminated as well."
She added that following the review, performed from March to April, the bank had separately decided to make a "small number" of cuts and will announce several senior appointments in London and New York imminently. At the start of the year Troika revealed plans to cut 25% of its total head count, although the bank now says the layoffs are likely to reach 30%.
Troika Dialog entered a strategic alliance with Standard Bank in March after selling a 33% stake for $200 million and is reorganizing its business lines to integrate it with the South African bank's Moscow-based operations. It is still awaiting regulatory approval before it can work as a joint team. Standard Bank has its own private-equity team in Moscow, to be integrated with Troika Capital Partners, which has about $2.3 billion in funds under management in private equity and venture capital.
May 29, 2009
By JASON CORCORAN and HARRY WILSON
Two senior managers have left Troika Dialog after a tumultuous nine months for the Moscow-based financial group that included a collapse in Russian stock prices and the sale of a stake to Standard Bank Group Ltd. in March.
The chief executive of Troika Dialog's U.K. business, Howard Snell, has resigned. Giedrius Pukas, the managing director of Troika Capital Partners, the group's alternative-asset-management division, is leaving with a senior team to launch his own firm, according to the bank.
Mr. Snell resigned from Troika this week but will remain on the board of directors of the U.K. business for a couple of months. He said he would take the next months off to assess his options. Two people close to the situation said his departure wasn't connected to a Troika program to reduce its head count.
Mr. Pukas, who is leaving along with two colleagues, joined Troika in early 2004 and said he was leaving with a senior team to set up an investment and private-equity firm called Quadro Capital Partners.
His responsibilities as managing director and chief investment officer of Troika Capital Partners are to be divided between Mikhail Broitman, managing director of the strategic-projects division, and Kanako Sekine, who joined as chief operating officer last year.
A spokeswoman for Troika Dialog said, "Troika Capital Partners initiated a separation with Giedrius Pukas. As a result of a semiannual performance review of staff, a number of Troika Dialog group employees were terminated as well."
She added that following the review, performed from March to April, the bank had separately decided to make a "small number" of cuts and will announce several senior appointments in London and New York imminently. At the start of the year Troika revealed plans to cut 25% of its total head count, although the bank now says the layoffs are likely to reach 30%.
Troika Dialog entered a strategic alliance with Standard Bank in March after selling a 33% stake for $200 million and is reorganizing its business lines to integrate it with the South African bank's Moscow-based operations. It is still awaiting regulatory approval before it can work as a joint team. Standard Bank has its own private-equity team in Moscow, to be integrated with Troika Capital Partners, which has about $2.3 billion in funds under management in private equity and venture capital.
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