EAST CAPITAL INCREASES ITS EXPOSURE TO UKRAINE AND ACQUIRES 14.96% OF IMB GROUP
East Capital Explorer Financial Institutions Fund has purchased a 14.96% stake in the IMB Group Public Ltd. (Cyprus), which owns 100% of International Mortgage Bank, a mortgage lender, and Family Credit, a consumer finance company, both of which are headquartered in Kiev, Ukraine. The shares in IMB Group were purchased on the secondary market.
IMB Group is the leading pure-play consumer-lending platform in Ukraine, offering its customers home acquisition, home equity, and sales finance loans, bank accounts, deposit services, and credit cards. The Group just finished its second year of operations with total assets of approximately USD 75m and equity of approximately USD 29m. It has an estimated 5% market share of the mortgages market in Kiev, and disburses loans in six regions of Ukraine.
“IMB Group has shown excellent growth during 2006,” says Kestutis Sasnauskas, Managing Director of East Capital Private Equity, “and we believe that the group’s focus on the mortgage and consumer finance segments makes it a very attractive niche player in the market.”
“IMB Group welcomes East Capital Explorer Financial Institutions Fund as a new long-term shareholder,” says Greg Krasnov, CEO of IMB Group. “We perceive East Capital’s entrance to IMB Group as a value added step in our development and further validation of our retail banking strategy and overall focus on high standards of corporate governance.”
About IMB Group Public Ltd.
IMB Group Public Ltd. is Ukraine’s leading pure-play consumer lending platform, offering mortgages, POS loans and deposits. IMB Group owns 100% stakes in IMB, a mortgage bank, and Family Credit, a consumer-lending intermediary. IMB Group’s main shareholder is Horizon Capital, one of Ukraine’s leading private equity fund managers.
About East Capital
East Capital is a leading, independent asset manager specialising in Eastern European financial markets. The company, which is headquartered in Stockholm, with offices in Paris, Hong Kong, Tallinn, Moscow and Oslo, actively manages over EUR 4.2bn, basing its investment strategy on thorough knowledge of the markets, fundamental analysis and frequent company visits by fund managers and analysts.
The East Capital Financial Institutions Fund is a EUR 350m private equity fund, which makes equity investments in companies within the financial sector in Eastern Europe.
Further information can be obtained from:
East Capital
Kestutis Sasnauskas, Partner
Moscow Tel. +7 495 380 1510
Stockholm Tel. +46 8 505 88 545
kestutis.sasnauskas@eastcapital.com