REUTERS
American billionaire investor George Soros has decided to invest in a new private equity fund, New Ukraine Fund, which is sponsored by Dragon Capital, and will focus on investing in a wide range of sectors of the Ukrainian economy, according to Dragon Capital's press service.
Ukrainian Redevelopment Fund (URF), a private investment vehicle managed by Soros Fund Management (SFM) that acts exclusively for Soros family clients, will join Dragon Capital as a seed investor in the New Ukraine Fund.
"We are pleased to become a seed investor in a new private equity structure in Ukraine," spokesman for SFM Michael Vachon said.
"We believe that international private capital combined with strong local management skills will contribute to and benefit from the recovery of Ukrainian economy. The New Ukraine Fund is well positioned to become one of the first success stories in post-crisis Ukrainian private equity arena," the press service quoted him as saying.
The New Ukraine Fund is said to provide businesses with capital and managerial support to enhance performance and upgrade technologies to support long-term growth.
In turn, Dragon Capital CEO Tomas Fiala noted that the current market environment in Ukraine represents an excellent opportunity to buy and invest in local businesses at attractive prices.
"We are very pleased with the strong support we have received for the New Ukraine Fund from SFM and URF, a world-class private equity investor," Fiala said.
"We will seek to capitalize on our wide network of proprietary contacts in Ukraine and our disciplined and patient investment approach. We will seek to partner with companies to which we can add value on the operational side," he added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, U.S. billionaire investor George Soros said he was ready to invest up to $1 billion in the Ukrainian economy if Western countries helped private investments there.
Soros also noted that a new tax reform in Ukraine would help remove the obstacles foreign investors face in Ukraine.
He noted that the Ukrainian parliament had been discussing several tax reform models, but the best model, in his opinion, is the one proposed by Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko, as it meets the requirements of the International Monetary Fund.
UNIAN's memo. American financier and investor George Soros is a supporter of the theory of an open society and describes himself as an opponent of "market fundamentalism." He is also the founder of a network of charitable organizations, named the Soros Foundation.
Soros has also provided consulting support with regard to the reforms in Ukraine. In January, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met with Soros in Kyiv to discuss international aid and ways to increase financial assistance to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Redevelopment Fund, LP (URF) is a private investment vehicle that focuses on special situations and private equity investments in Ukraine and companies with significant operations in Ukraine. URF endeavors to make targeted investments that have the potential to promote economic and social development in Ukraine.