EAF hopes to invest zl. 500 million and engage in LBO activities

The European Accession Fund (EAF) is to raise zl. 1 billion capital by the end of 2003, at least half of the sum is to be invested in Poland. The American private equity fund was opened to make investments in Central Europe. "This year we will conclude two transactions in Poland", said EAF partner Przemyslaw Krych. If everything goes well, this will be the first fund to engage in leverage buy-out (LBO). "LBO is laden with risk as the hedge for the bank are the shares of the company we invest in", Krych said. EAF's first transaction in was the purchase of 60% of shares in Luxmed, a medical services company in Warsaw. (Puls Biznesu, p. 5) K.S.