EI to open new EUR 300 million fund by 2004

Jacek Siwicki, a partner of venture capital fund Enterprise Investors (EI), announced in an interview with Puls Biznesu plans to form a fifth investment fund by the end of this year, or in early 2004. Negotiations with potential investors are in progress, and EI estimates the value of the new fund will stand at EUR 300 million. "We first have to use the funds we still have," said Siwicki. EI has invested around $180 million over the past two years and is left with $70 million from the last fund. Siwicki announced that this capital will be spent still this year on financing three to five new ventures. "Out of these funds, we plan to secure $20 million for the privatization of Bulgarian Telecom, in which we will take part in a consortium with Advent. That would be our third foreign investment," said Siwicki. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 4) A.K.