June 30 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian private equity firm BlackPeak Capital said on Thursday that it raised 126 million euro ($131.6 million) on wrapping up the final close of its new Southeast Europe Growth Equity Fund, above its target of 120 million euro.
The Luxembourg-based fund targets growth investments of 5 million euro to 15 million euro in promising small and medium-sized businesses in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia, BlackPeak Capital said in an e-mailed statement.
The investment vehicle is backed by the European Investment Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC), Erste Asset Management as well as major regional pension funds.
The fund's final close brings BlackPeak Capital total assets under management (AuM) to 160 million euro at present.
The fund has already made two investments, in Romanian plant-based food producer Verdino and Bulgarian start-up euShipments.
"We are a generalist fund, but have strong preference for sectors such as software, niche manufacturing, FMCG, business services, healthcare. We are also interested to explore high-growth niches within more traditional sectors – for example, our investment in Verdino is in the area of alternative protein, and euShipments is logistics services catering to the needs of e-commerce exporters from the region," BlackPeak Capital managing partner Rossen Ivanov told SeeNews in an email.
BlackPeak Capital sees the fund as a significant milestone not only for the business, but also for the region, as it is one of the first such entities that channels significant investments of pension funds and asset management companies into the Southeast European (SEE) economies via private equity.
Southeast Europe Growth Equity Fund builds on the investment firm's flagship BlackPeak Fund I, which backed 12 regional companies, including Walltopia, International Power Supply, Software Group and Digitall.
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