Horizon Capital investment company to increase assets in Ukraine and Moldova to over $1 bln
DAVOS. Jan 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Horizon Capital, an investment company currently managing assets in Ukraine and Moldova in the amount of about $850 million, intends to exceed the asset level under management of $1 billion in the near future, Lenna Koszarny, the CEO of the company, has said. “Our main plans are as follows: we will manage more than $1 billion in the near future. These are our direct investments, co-investor funds and debt financing,” she told Interfax-Ukraine on the sidelines of the Ukrainian House, organized by the Pinchuk Foundation, WNISEF and Horizon Capital in Davos.
She said that Emerging Europe Growth Fund III (EEGF III) fund, worth $200 million, the formation of which was completed a year ago, has already made nine investments in Ukraine.
“And we are closing two more deals: the tenth and 11th investments are companies that are developing rapidly,” she said, without specifying the details before the completion of transactions.
She emphasized that the company intends to remain the leader in its sector.
Horizon Capital was founded in 2006 by four partners who began their cooperation with Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF), an investment fund created for the funds of the U.S. government in 1994 with a capital of $150 million for Ukraine and Moldova. Currently, the major shareholder and CEO of Horizon Capital is Koszarny. The company has offices in Kyiv and Chicago.
Ukraine boosted its electricity exports by 4.9% in 2019, to 6.469 billion kWh, the Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection has told. Electricity supplies from the Burshtyn TPP energy island to Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania rose by 17.1%, to 4.448 billion kWh.
Exports to Poland fell 2.4%, to 1.377 billion kWh.
Exports to Moldova fell 32.6%, to 644 million kWh.
In July, Ukraine resumed commercial imports of electricity. The year’s total was 2.699 billion kWh, including 909.8 million kWh from Slovakia, 851.3 million kWh from Belarus, 630.1 million kWh from Hungary, 286.3 million kWh from Russia, and 21.1 million kWh from Romania.
Due to crossflows related to the parallel work of the united energy system in Ukraine and systems in bordering countries (accounted for under contracts signed by Energomarket), Ukraine imported 41.6 million kWh of energy from Russia and 1 million kWh from Belarus in 2019.
BUYERS, ELECTRICITY, HUNGARY, MOLDOVA, POLAND, ROMANIA, SLOVAKIA
The National Anticorruption Center of the Republic of Moldova has denied information spread by a number of mass media about the opening of criminal proceedings against Farmak pharmaceutical company (Kyiv) in connection with its participation in tenders for the purchase of insulin. The press service of the company said, with reference to official information from the Moldovan agency, no criminal proceedings were opened against Farmak in connection with its participation in public tenders in Moldova on November 30, 2018 for the purchase of insulin analogues in the framework of the National Program for Diabetes Prevention and Treatment for 2019.
Farmak called on all media that disseminated false information about its participation in criminal proceedings in the Republic of Moldova with a request to refute this information as false and harmful to the business reputation of the company, the statement said. In addition, the company asked mass media representatives to always contact it for official comments to verify any information about Farmak.
PJSC Farmak is one of the three leaders in the pharmaceutical industry of Ukraine. It is a member of the Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine Association. The beneficiary of the company is head of the supervisory board Filia Zhebrovska.
Nova Poshta Moldova through January-June 2019 doubled a number of deliveries compared to the same period in 2018, Nova Poshta Georgia saw 32% rise in the similar indicator, Nova Poshta Group of Companies reported on its website.
According to the group, its offices in Moldova and Georgia managed to increase a number of processed deliveries and to shorten the terms of delivery thanks to launch of deliveries in any part of the country, delivery speed-up and attraction of the new large business clients.
“Fast and reliable delivery in Moldova favors development of the local online stores since the customers started to arrange online orders…As in Ukraine, one of the key segments of Nova Poshta in Moldova is e-commerce, a developing market with free niches. Therefore, the task of Nova Poshta Moldova is to create an effective logistics infrastructure mean to facilitate the development of e-commerce,” Nova Poshta International Operations Director Aliona Stepina said.
She said Georgia’s complex landscape and geography are such that not all the logistics companies operating in this country are ready to deliver parcels and cargo to remote mountain settlements. Meanwhile, Nova Poshta Georgia managed to ensure delivery to each client, which became an important competitive advantage and allowed the company to enter the top three market leaders and improve the quality of work with business clients.
The group stressed that the companies in both states continue to expand the list of the services both for domestic deliveries, as well as for international destinations, will introduce digital-tools, which have already proved to be effective in Ukraine.
Nova Poshta Moldova and Nova Poshta Georgia are parts of Nova Poshta Group.
Nova Poshta, founded in 2001, is the leader in the local delivery market. The company’s network consists of more than 3,300 offices throughout Ukraine.
Ukraine in January-March 2019 increased revenue from exports of electricity by 22.2% or $17.895 million compared with January-March 2018, to $98.366 million, including $33.798 million in March alone.
Hungary bought electricity worth $58.014 million, Poland $22.13 million, Moldova $13.635 million, other countries $4.587 million, Ukraine’s State Fiscal Service has said.
Over the period under review, Ukraine imported electricity worth $0.263 million, in particular, electricity imports from the Russian Federation were estimated at $0.249 million, from Belarus at $0.012 million, from Moldova at $0.002 million.
As reported, Ukraine in 2018 exported electricity worth $331.942 million. Hungary bought electricity worth $189.958 million, Poland $78.763 million, Moldova $53.144 million, and other countries $10.078 million. Exports of Ukrainian electricity in monetary terms in 2018 increased by 40.9% compared to 2017.
Ukraine increased electricity exports by 19.3% or 999.4 million kWh in 2018, to 6.166 billion kWh.
According to the forecast, Ukraine in 2019 plans to export 6.42 billion kWh of electricity, and this is slightly more than in 2018 (6.2 billion kWh).
Horizon Capital, a U.S. private-equity firm investing in high growth and export-driven companies in Ukraine and the near region, has announced the final closing of its third fund, $200 million Emerging Europe Growth Fund III LP, far surpassing the $150 million target size announced in 2017.
“EEGF III’s investment strategy is focused on fast-growing, export-oriented companies that leverage Ukraine’s cost competitive platform to generate global revenues primarily in IT, light manufacturing, food and agriculture. The Fund will also pursue investments in select, high-growth domestic market segments, including e-commerce, healthcare and pharma, consumer goods and financial services,” Horizon Capital said in a report on Wednesday.
According to the press release, investments will range from $5-20 million and be made over the next two or three years.
Horizon Capital said that EEGF III has made six investments to date, five in the core sectors driving Ukraine’s export boom and best-positioned to access global markets, including IT, light manufacturing and food and agro. The Fund has backed Genesis, global IT product company; Intellias, fast-growing large IT services company; Yarych, leading biscuits producer; MAIB, No. 1 bank in Moldova, and others.
According to the press release, in what marks the largest private equity fund raised for Ukraine in a decade, Horizon’s EEGF III received strong backing from existing and new investors, attracted by the excellent value, fast growth and abundance of opportunities that Ukraine offers.
“Our fundraising success should send a strong signal that Ukraine offers tremendous rewards for those willing to look past the headlines,” Horizon Capital’s Founding Partner and CEO Lenna Koszarny said.
According to the press release, EEGF III was launched with an anchor commitment from Western NIS Enterprise Fund and attracted investments from the EBRD, FMO, IFC, PROPARCO, DEG, and IFU with over one-third of capital raised from institutional investors, foundations, family offices and other private investors.
Horizon Capital said that the new fund enjoys strong backing from existing investors of Horizon Capital’s prior funds, who contributed over 55% of total commitments. U.S. and Europe-based investors contributed roughly 35% each of total capital raised, with the remainder from other international investors.
Horizon Capital was established in 2006. It manages private equity funds Western NIS Enterprise Fund (WNISEF, established in 1994 with a seed capital of $150 million), Emerging Europe Growth Fund, L.P. (EEGF, established in 2006 with a seed capital of $132 million) and EEGF II (EEGF, established in 2008 with $370 million seed capital). The money of these funds is invested in projects in Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus.
