INVL Asset Management, one of Lithuania’s leading asset management companies, has launched a new venture capital sub-fund intended for informed investors – INVL Special Opportunities Fund – which will indirectly invest in the shares of Moldova-Agroindbank (MAIB), the largest bank in Moldova. The sub-fund started its activities on 24 July of this year, after the Bank of Lithuania approved its founding documents.
The target size of the sub-fund for informed investors is EUR 4.5 million. The minimum investment in the fund will amount to EUR 200 thousand, and maximum – EUR 500 thousand.
INVL Special Opportunities Fund plans to acquire up to 50% of shares of the Lithuanian company MD Partners, which was established for the acquisition of the MAIB, Invalda INVL will retain a controlling stake in MD Partners.
As announced earlier, on 22 June the international consortium, which includes the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), one of the leading asset management groups in the Baltic states Invalda INVL and Ukrainian private equity manager Horizon Capital, signed a Pre-Contract with the Moldovan Agency for Public Property regarding the participation of the consortium in the auction to acquire a stake of 41.09% in MAIB.
The international consortium, operating through a company established in the United Kingdom HEIM Partners, has committed to make an offer to acquire MAIB shares. MD Partners, controlled by Invalda INVL, owns 37.5 percent in HEIM Partners.
The minimum price for the 41.09% stake of MAIB shares is over 450 million Moldovan lei (EUR 23 million).
Moldova-Agroindbank is the largest commercial bank in Moldova. Assets of the bank at the end of 2017 amounted to EUR 1.078 billion, equity was EUR 180 million.
INVL Asset Management belongs to Invalda INVL Group. Companies in this group have more than EUR 600 million of assets under management, entrusted to them by over 190 thousand clients in Lithuania and Latvia as well as international investors.
The EBRD is a multilateral bank that promotes the development of the private sector and entrepreneurial initiative in 38 economies across three continents. It is owned by 66 countries, the EU and the EIB. The Bank is the largest institutional investor in Moldova and has invested over EUR 1.2 billion in over 120 projects in the country to date.
Horizon Capital is a private equity firm managing funds providing financing to businesses in Ukraine and Moldova. Its funds have attracted investments from the EBRD and other investors.