Poland

Counting on the expectations of a bright future for financial products comparison web sites, Poland's Helix Ventures Partners (HVP) has invested in eBroker.pl. The deal opens new opportunities for eBroker.pl to attract more customers, provide better information, and more accurately match users to financial institutions. It will also aid in the site's future development plans.

Enterprise Investors has completed a partial divestment of Poland's Harper Hygienics through an IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The transaction, which consisted of just over 25% of Harpers, or 13 million shares, netted Enterprise's Polish Enterprise Fund V a total of PLN 53.3 million at PLN 4.1 per share.

Enterprise Investors (EI) has added a seventh SME to the portfolio of its Enterprise Venture Fund I (EVF) with the investment of PLN 7.3 million in Euro-Tax.pl. The buy-out deal with the Polish income tax service gives EI a 25% stake in the company.

Making good on plans announced last year, MCI Management has now completed its exit from S4E through the sale of its remaining shares in the company in April. MCI sold the 40.09% stake to Ingalil Holdings Limited and current Supervisory Board president Roman Pudełko, at a price of PLN 6.25 per share. MCI originally entered S4E through an acquisition of nearly 91% in 2001. During the life of the unusually long investment period, the average annual rate of return was about 17%. MCI executed a partial exit in 2007 through an IPO which brought a 35% return.

After more than two years of holding a majority share of Polish financial advisor Expander Advisors, the consortium led by Innova Capital has acquired the remaining shares from GE money to become the company's sole owner. The Innova consortium first invested in 2007, acquiring 60% while GE Money retained a 40% stake.

Penta Investments and Polish frozen food company Iglokrak reached an acquisition deal in late February which was put on hold pending government approval. The deal can now go through as the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) and the Slovak Republic's Antimonopoly Office have given the geen light. The acquisition is especially important in the Polish market where many of the players believe the frozen foods industry is too fragmented.

After more than a year of negotiations and financial hurdles, CEE private equity firm Abris Capital Partners has reached a deal to acquire Masterlease Polska from U.S.-based GMAC. As part of the financing package Abris was able to secure €129.3 million in corporate bonds just recently made available on the Warsaw Stock Exchange under its new Catalyst program. The company was acquired by GMAC in 2001 and made part of their global financing group while the original management team continued to operate the business.

Polish road construction firm Poldim S.A. will become a portfolio company of Lithuania's Tiltra Group now that the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection has issued its approval for the transaction. The deal gives Tiltra a 71% interest in Poldim for an undisclosed amount.

Mail.ru co-owners Digital Sky Technologies (DST) and Naspers appear to be engaged in talks that could result in a merger of the two companies' social networking holdings in Poland. Russian-based DST owns a 75% stake in Nasza-Klasa.pl while the South African-based Naspers owns the Gadu Gadu instant messaging service.

Upon acquiring Czech opthalmology company Lexum Group last year, ARX Equity Partners pledged to work with Lexum founder Marc Filipec to expand the company within Central and Eastern Europe. Holding to that pledge Lexum recently announced the acquisition of Intermedica, a leading player in Poland's opthalmology clinic market, for an undisclosed price.