Sarona Asset Management, the manager of a number of private equity, impact investing funds, has officially established a presence in Europe and appointed Vivina Berla as a Senior Partner and European Managing Director.
Sarona Asset Management is based in Waterloo-ON, Canada, and is a co-founder and/or manager of a number of impact investment funds, including the Sarona and MicroVest groups of funds. Together, they represent over USD180 million in assets under management in emerging and developing country markets around the world.
With over 15 years’ experience in institutional and alternative asset management acquired at Merrill Lynch and Gartmore Investment Management in London, Vivina’s breadth of experience and industry knowledge is a key addition to the Sarona team. She complements the strengths of the existing partners and her long involvement in private equity is particularly relevant to Sarona’s current efforts to broaden its investor base around the world.
Berla will contribute to the future growth of Sarona Asset Management, the formulation and implementation of its strategy, and have a particular role to play in Europe, Middle East and Africa. She will also be a member of the investment committee. Sarona’s European activities will be managed from its Amsterdam office.
“Strengthening Sarona’s presence in Europe means that we can facilitate greater dialogue with investors and industry professionals around deploying greater amounts of capital into small and mid-market companies within frontier markets.” says Gerhard Pries (pictured), Managing Partner. “With Vivina’s experience and passion for private equity in emerging economies, Sarona is confident it will attract greater interest to invest in regions, sectors and companies that will provide attractive market rate returns, as well as support local communities and protect the environment.”
