Advent sees promise in Ukraine

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has completed the reorganisation of its Central and Eastern European operations, begun earlier this year, with the opening of a Ukraine office in Kiev.

Tamas Nagy, a Hungarian national, has been building Advent’s Ukraine network for the past year, having joined the company in 2003 and worked on a number of investments and exits in Hungary, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. Nagy will head up the Kiev office.

“In the 12 months we have been building our presence in Ukraine, we have seen many good managers, sector markets opening and regulatory infrastructure being put in place,” said Nagy. “With a population of some 50m, this country has huge potential for building businesses.”

Nagy will be joined by Natalie Polischuk as a principal. Polischuk has been a partner at Delta Private Equity in Moscow, where she oversaw two investments and two exits and was interim chief executive of a portfolio company.

Advent opened a new office in Prague in May this year, led by partner and 10-year veteran of the firm Chris Mruck, covering investment in the Czech and Slovak republics as well as Hungary, which previously had its own office.

Advent has been an investor in Central Europe since the 1990s, with long-standing offices in Warsaw, covering Poland and the Baltic States, and in Bucharest, covering Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

Advent’s Central Europe team numbers 13 investment professionals, with a further 11 at its Turkish investment partner TurkVen.

Private equity has increasingly looked to the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe. In late August, Carlyle Group said it planned a new office in Warsaw, which would look at targets in the region including Ukraine. In June, Warburg Pincus took a stake in a US$100m financing for Ukrainian lender IMB Group Public.