Value Management Partners Ltd – The privatisation of the management of IØ’s Central European portfolio paves the way for new professional business consultancy.
As a consequence of the enlargement of the European Union, in 2003 the Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe (IØ) decided not to make new investments in any of those 8 Central European countries that on 1 May 2004 became members of the European Union. Since 1989, IØ has successfully invested in 360 investment projects in the CEE and CIS region. Presently, IØ is still an investor in more than 170 projects, including 130 located in the new EU member states. IØ expects to exit from the remaining portfolio in the EU countries over the next 5-7 years. The exit will be gradual and in full respect of all existing agreements with IØ’s project partners. It is thus estimated that by the year 2011, IØ will have exited from all of its investments in the new EU member states.
Since its establishment in 1995, IØ’s Warsaw Regional Office (WAW Office) has been a crucial factor in developing and managing IØ’s investment portfolio in Central and Eastern Europe. The WAW office has developed a unique expertise of great value to IØ as well as to IØ’s investment partners in Denmark and the host countries.
IØ gives high priority to ensure that the WAW Office’s accumulated wealth of experience and knowledge on project development and investment management, as well as the important network of contacts that has been created by the WAW Office, will be maintained and even strengthened as IØ is withdrawing from activities in the new EU member states. This is fully in line with IØ’s mission to promote growth and development in these countries.
Therefore, IØ has decided to privatise the management of the WAW Office with effect from 1 January 2005. A new company called Value Management Partners Ltd (VMP) has been established in 2004. VMP’s equal partners and owners are three former Investment Officers of IØ: Agnieszka Grous, Piotr Lemieszek and Zbigniew Gluchowski. VMP’s partners have more than 20 years combined track record in the region’s business environment gained to a large extent from the employment for many years in IØ.
VMP will as from 1 January 2005 take over the management of at least 75 of IØ’s existing investment projects in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, as well as in Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.
In addition to providing services to IØ, VMP will pursue a range of new business opportunities. VMP’s mission is to develop two main areas of services: fund management and business consulting, both of them built upon the extensive experience of VMP’s founding partners, who believe that professionalism and technical skills, combined with understanding of different business cultures are pre-requisites for the success of any project.
VMP aims at becoming a renowned fund manager for other publicly owned as well as private equity investors, who will be increasing their investment portfolios in this prosperous part of Europe.
VMP will build upon its Partners’ extensive experience and network of contacts in Central and Eastern Europe and Denmark to provide a wide scope of business consulting services, with special focus on Danish companies which seek to establish or develop their operations in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, including Russia and Ukraine.
VMP will also work for IØ on an ad hoc consultancy basis on new investments in the Balkan region, Ukraine, Russia and other CIS countries.
We trust that the agreement between IØ and VMP will ensure that IØ can continue to provide a high level of service to its partners and project companies in the years to come. We also extend an invitation to existing and new business partners in Central and Eastern Europe to make use of the range of services offered by VMP.
Questions on the above should be directed to:
Sven Riskær, +45 33 63 75 00
Agnieszka Grous, Piotr Lemieszek, Zbigniew Gluchowski, +48 22 850 04 48
Contact VMP
Value Management Partners Sp. z o.o.
Mokotowska 23 m 8
00-560 Warsaw, Poland
tel: +48 22 850 04 48
Fax: + 48 22 621 83 63
www.vmpartners.pl
Emails:
Agnieszka Grous: agr@vmpartners.pl
Piotr Lemieszek: ple@vmpartners.pl
Zbigniew Gluchowski: zrg@vmpartners.pl
Attention: the existing email addresses of the IØ WAW remain valid and unchanged for IØ portfolio related work.
VMP Fund Management
VMP’s Partners have extensive experience in fund management services gained from managing over 100 projects in CEE.
The fund management services offered by VMP include:
1. Project Development: appraisal of new investment projects, analysis and negotiation of the structure of financing, analysis of financial projections, structuring of an investment and drafting of agreements,
2. Project Management: supervision of invested companies, including board work and regular visits, analysis of the financial standing, supervision of management’s performance, supervision of compliance with legal, environmental and other regulatory requirements, contacts with local authorities and banks, regular reporting to the customer,
3. Crisis Management: assistance in financial and organisational restructuring,
4. Divestment: recommendations to the customer about exit opportunities, assistance in sales negotiations, valuations.
VMP Business Consulting
The corporate consulting services of VMP concentrate on assisting new and existing investors in optimising their investments in Poland and other countries of CEE at all stages of a project’s life cycle. The services offered include:
screening and identification of suitable partners and contractors, market research, support in preparation of feasibility studies and business plans, assistance in financial structuring, including arranging financing and EU subsidies, business location services, assistance in preparation of the contractual framework of the project, registration of companies, assistance in selection of management and key staff for the project company and valuations of companies to be bought or sold.
The Partners
Agnieszka Grous is a Partner in Value Management Partners Ltd. From 1999 until 2004 Agnieszka worked as an Investment Officer for the Warsaw Branch Office of The Danish Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe, where she was responsible for projects mainly from building materials sector, textile industry and food-processing in five CEE countries: Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Ukraine. Prior to joining the Investment Fund, she spent three years working for the Polish Mass Privatisation Program in the National Investment Fund Fortuna S.A., where she specialised in privatisation, restructuring and was responsible for the Fund’s IPO process. She is a graduate from Business Administration Department of Warsaw University and she holds an MBA degree from a joint program of the University of Minnesota – Carlson School of Management and Warsaw School of Economics.
Piotr Lemieszek is a Partner in Value Management Partners Ltd. From 2001 till 2004 Piotr worked as an Investment Officer in the Warsaw Branch of The Danish Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe. He supervised projects in the real estate and hospitality sector as well as food processing and agriculture. His focus has also been on projects in environment and renewable energy resources sectors. Before joining the Danish Investment Fund, Piotr had worked for several years in Tax and Corporate Finance Departments of Arthur Andersen Poland (now merged with Ernst &Young Poland). In AA he specialised mainly on consulting for the real estate sector. He has also an experience gained from running his own consultancy business in the years 1995-1997. Piotr holds Masters Degree in Management from the Warsaw University (UW) as well as MBA degree earned at a joint program of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and UW.
Zbigniew Gluchowski is a Partner in Value Management Partners Ltd. From 1999 till 2004 Zbigniew worked for The Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe, first as an Investment Officer and Senior Investment Officer in the Warsaw Office and from 2003 as the Resident Representative in the Moscow Office. He was involved in many projects in sectors like agriculture, manufacturing and logistics. Before that, from 1992 to 1999, Zbigniew worked for Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) in positions from Sales & Service Engineer to Business Development Manager for the Power Generation Segment in Poland. Zbigniew has an MBA degree from a joint program of the University of Minnesota – Carlson School of Management and Warsaw School of Economics and a Master of Science degree from the Warsaw Institute of Technology, with the Master’s thesis prepared at the Technical University of Denmark.