The firm’s first traditional buyout fund will primarily focus on investing in businesses in Central and Eastern Europe.
MCI Capital, a Poland-based private equity firm, is launching a technology-focused fund with a target of €400m.
The firm’s first traditional buyout fund will primarily focus on investing in businesses in Central and Eastern Europe.
MCI, which was set up in 1999 has so far invested €500m in 13 buyout deals, with some of the capital coming from co-investors. These investments have been made through its existing evergreen fund structure – MCI EuroVentures.
MCI’s past deals include taking a stake in ecommerce and e-travel software provider IAI for €32m; an undisclosed investment in taxi app Gett; and a $44m investment in fintech firm iZettle. MCI’s exit from iZettle in 2018 to PayPal delivered an internal rate of return of 70% and a 3.5x multiple, according to the firm’s website.
Currently MCI has $650m in long term capital and will have a war chest of between €250m and €300m to spend in the first two quarters of 2020, partner Maciej Kowalski said.
He added the group made the decision to raise a new fund, to sit alongside its existing vehicle, because it “found that our strategy would be better supported through a more stabilised fund structure”.
The firm has appointed an adviser in London to lead the effort and will be looking to attract limited partners from both within and outside of its home country of Poland.
Kowalski said MCI focuses on three key areas when choosing companies to invest in. These are digital businesses that are in sectors such as ecommerce, fintech, internet-of-things and cloud service providers; businesses that operate in the IT infrastructure market, such as data centres or logistics providers; and companies that are in traditional sectors but are looking to grow through digitisation.
Source: PENews