London-based investment group Polar Capital Partners is relocating its Eastern European equities office from Moscow to Kyiv and plans to pump half a billion dollars into Ukraine.
“We are opening a new office, recruiting staff and launching a new fund, which will invest in public and private companies, both beginners and those at the IPO level,” said Anton Khmelnitski, director of Polar Capital Columbus Fund Ltd.
Polar will seek to invest into Ukrainian companies buying shares in public firms and offer cash to businesses in return for equity, said Khmelnitski, who will lead the Kyiv office.
Polar sees big opportunities in Ukraine, Khmelnitski said, and his firm expects to complete the move within months.
Other equity groups based in Moscow have launched Kyiv offices in recent years, but Polar is among the biggest to relocate an Eastern European equities branch to Ukraine’s capital.
Born in Moscow, Khmelnitski was raised and educated in Switzerland. He previously worked for capital market companies in Europe and Moscow.
According to Khmelnitski, Polar Capital Partners, which has a fund of $220 million dedicated to Ukraine and Russia, has already invested about $90 million into Ukrainian companies.
Polar’s new priorities in Ukraine will be investments into domestic food companies, pharmaceuticals, high-tech firms and insurance.
Anastasiya Nazarenko, an expert at Kyiv-based investment bank Concorde Capital, said a new fund with Kyiv headquarters will give Polar a strategic advantage over the funds not based here. It will also be beneficial to Ukrainian companies that will get a reliable long-term local partner.
Peter Bobrinsky, an expert at Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital, said Polar’s decision to move a regional office to Kyiv demonstrates the group’s desire to be closer to a promising market.
“Polar has primarily invested in Russia and Ukraine, but Russia’s investment universe has reached such a mature stage where it is easier to manage Russian stocks from abroad than Ukrainian stocks. Ukraine on the other hand requires a much closer and more hands-on management,” Bobrinsky added.
The Polar group manages about $4 billion, according to Khmelnitski.
