CapMan misses target

The CapMan Russia Fund, formerly Norum Russia Fund III, was transferred under CapMan’s management following the closing of the Norum transaction in August 2008.

After missing the fund’s €150m target, the purchase price for the Norum acquisition will be decreased from €8m to €7.3m. Fifty one per cent of the purchase price has already been paid to the sellers who are company management. In line with the original transaction, CapMan will have a liability to buy the remaining 49% of Norum shares by July 2012.

CapMan has allocated €13.5m to the fund that invests in mid-sized companies based in Russia with an enterprise value of €5-50m.The fund targets companies that operate in selected industries, such as consumer goods and services, manufacturing, telecoms, transportation, financial services and media.

The companies have net sales of €5-100m. So far, the fund has invested in Russian private airline, Region Avia Airlines, and in pig farm operator, Russian Baltic Pork Invest.

Head of CapMan Russia investment operations, Hans Christian Dall Nygård said: “The market environment has changed dramatically during the fundraising. The last months have been extremely tough for getting new commitments to the fund. We are very satisfied with the fund size, which gives us good capacity to make new investments in Russia.”

Prior to being acquired by CapMan, Norum was jointy owned by Norways’ largest financial service group DnB NOR Bank ASA, and Sitra Management of Finland.