Scimitar’s hefty cut in exit

Scimitar Global Ventures recently earned a 60% return from its first exit in Romania, when it sold Monopoly Media, PE Week has learned.

The firm would not provide specifics regarding the purchase or sale, except to say that the buyer is a large Romanian media company. Monopoly Media installs flat screens in banks and shopping centers to display ads. While this model has been in use in the United States and Western Europe, it only recently gained traction in Eastern Europe.

Scimitar had a 40% stake in the company after providing it with an initial and undisclosed amount of funding one year ago.

Scimitar Partner Scott Ogur says that the firm was approached earlier this year by two of Romania’s large media companies and eventually entered into exclusive negotiations with one of them.

While Scimitar had initially planned on raising a $50 million fund this year, Ogur says that the firm is considering changing those plans, based on feedback from limited partners. Rather than have a fund focused on deals in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Scimitar may instead raise a fund with a more narrow geographic focus, such as a single country or region, Ogur says.

Scimitar was founded in 2003 by veterans of New York-based JP Morgan Private Bank. It makes later stage venture and small buyout investments in financial services, energy, security and industrial companies.