Russia-focused investment firm Wermuth Asset Management aims to raise $500 million this year via three new funds, including a $200 million private-equity fund and a $200 million electricity-sector fund, the firm's founder Jochen Wermuth told reporters Thursday.
The Greater Europe Private Equity fund will invest in unlisted companies and won't be sector-specific, Wermuth told The Moscow Times. He said the fund would invest in consumer companies, such as providers of cable television and high-speed Internet. The fund will also invest in Russian consumer-debt-collection businesses, an area that the firm already has investments in, said Wermuth, who is also the firm's chief investment officer.
The electricity sector fund, Russian Power Investments, will invest in publicly traded electricity companies in Russia and possibly some unlisted companies in the greater CIS.
Wermuth said the third fund will be a $100 million "long-short" equity fund investing in publicly traded companies. "Some of Russia's listed blue chips … are now conducive for short-selling," he said.
The firm, which has $400 million under management, is launching the three funds now "because the valuations are terribly low and the opportunities are outstanding" among Russian companies.
A global marketing tour for the private-equity fund is scheduled to begin in March.
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