Aurora Investment Advisors has had a first closing of Aurora II, a Guernsey based limited partnership to capitalize on the demand for investment in Russia.
Aurora Investment Advisors has had a first closing of Aurora II, a Guernsey based limited partnership to capitalize on the demand for investment in Russia.
Aurora II will be able to invest in Aurora Russia’s shares and to make direct investments in private, growth companies primarily in the financial, consumer and business services sectors in Russia.
The fund will take blocking minority or majority stakes in these companies with an exit horizon of three to five years. The fund has agreed co-investment rights with Aurora Russia.
Aurora II will have a proposed fund size of up to GBP50m on final closing with investment from institutional and sophisticated private investors.
John McRoberts, director of Aurora Investment Advisors, says: ‘Aurora II Lwill enable us to take advantage of the continued investment opportunities we are seeing in Russia. The medium-term drivers of the Russian economy remain intact despite Russia facing its toughest challenge since the 1998 crisis. The market sectors which Aurora II will focus on, and which Aurora Russia has successfully invested in, have been growing more quickly than Russia’s GDP and it is anticipated that this will continue.
‘With debt financing becoming difficult to secure, the need for private equity capital in Russia is greater than ever. Good companies in Russia which historically would have been able to access the debt markets will need to rely on other sources of financing such as private equity to fund future growth. Reduced availability of financing for companies means valuations will become more reasonable and only the best companies will be able to raise private equity capital. We expect high returns for private equity capital invested in 2009/2010.’
