The private equity investment market will double in volume in 2007

SEEPEA is also lobbying for pension funds to be allowed to invest in private equity funds. Two large private equity agreements, worth over €100 mln, are to be signed by year-end, and as such this market will double in volume in 2007 year-on-year.

"Investments of private equity funds in Romania will probably exceed €200 million. As far as I know, at least two large transactions will be finalized by year-end," according to a statement yesterday by Robert Luke, President of SEEPEA.

The value of private equity transactions amounted to €110 mln in 2006, 6.6 percent of the total value for Central and Eastern Europe, compared to the €70 mln invested in 2005, according to SEEPEA data.

Major companies administering private equity funds in Romania are Advent, AIG, Enterprise Investors, GED Capital, Oresa, RAEF, NCH, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Large transactions on the Romanian market include the €55 mln takeover of the Artima supermarket chain and that of sweet maker Kandia Excelent (nearly €100).