Ukrainian PE & VC Summit 2024: PE Panel Highlights

The Summit is over, and now we have time to share with you the main highlights, starting with the PE panel, featuring Anna Wnuk, Małgorzata Bobrowska, Leszek Muzyczyszyn, Przemysław Głębocki, and Maksym Kuznetsov.

So, the panel kicked off with the question: do Polish funds invest in Ukrainian projects? In short, it’s complicated. Overall, the funds rather actively look at the opportunities, as Ukraine is mostly not a target market yet. Why is it so? There’s an unexpected answer — the stereotypes. Many investors simply are unaware of the potential and realities of the CEE region, watching it as an underdog, especially in Western Europe and the US. Even Central Europe is considered not worth checking out, what to say about the Eastern one?

Nevertheless, Ukraine is not alone. Poland companies, for example, are in the same boat, often struggling to expand to the Western markets because of false perceptions. Thus, Poland funds view Ukraine as a lucrative place for the next ten to fifteen years, especially in joint ventures. The panelists’ opinion is that we should educate investors more on this subject. Strategic investors are the most open-minded and ready to pay for good solutions no matter what. Other financial investors seem to be conservative giving a leg up to easy options.

But how do LPs look at business with Ukraine? Actually, good. The risks are well-known. All that matters is performance. If Ukrainian companies can deliver value, LPs will take the chances. A good strategy regarding investing in Ukraine would be to put money into export-oriented companies, like light manufacturing businesses (asset-light, infrastructure-light). Also, the decision factor for investing is the amount of capital, not the insurance.

PE investors are very interested in FMCG and Consumer goods. There's the hype surrounding tech, still, someone needs to do day-to-day business, like baking bread, producing grain, etc.

In conclusion, the panelists see a positive shift in Poland's funds strategy, one of them being the hiring process of regional managers for Ukraine. Doing business here is possible, including numerous success stories, although the business environment needs to be improved to make it at least on par with Poland.