According to 67% of representatives of private equity and venture capital funds, the war in Ukraine slowed down investment processes, according to a study entitled “Barometer of the Private Equity and Venture Capital Industry” prepared by the consulting company JP Weber.
The report shows that funds expect the war in Ukraine to affect the capital investment market – 80% of respondents see its impact on the fund they represent, and 59% of them assess it as negative.
“The respondents indicate that the war in Ukraine slowed down investment processes (67% chose this answer), more than half (53%) of respondents believe that they see the impact of these events in the costs of debt servicing, for almost 1/3 (32%) there is a conflict Russian-Ukrainian influences access to financing,” stated associate partner JP Weber, Piotr Kucharczyk, co-author of the report.
The report shows that the period of the pandemic did not harm PE and VC funds. 63% positively assess the impact of the pandemic on their industry. Almost half of the surveyed investors (47%) declare that thanks to the pandemic, they achieved a higher return on investment.
Over half (57%) of the surveyed investors at the end of 2021 considered the current valuations of companies in Poland to be realistic. Investments in new companies are a priority for half of the respondents, while almost every fourth respondent (23%) indicated that they are currently focusing on collecting investment funds.
Funds also more and more often indicate planned exits from investments – this was declared by almost every fourth surveyed fund (17%). Compared to 2020, the funds participating in the study increasingly appreciate the role of digitization in the process of building the value of portfolio companies. Currently, it is treated on a par with organic growth (50%). The first place is invariably occupied by international expansion, which was indicated by as many as 2/3 of the respondents. The third most frequently indicated response was resistance to business cycles (33%).
“In 2021, the factors identified by the private equity and venture capital industry as key to the number of transactions carried out in Poland changed significantly. For almost half of the respondents (43%), access to financing is now becoming the most important. […] in the first quarter of the year. In 2022, both the geopolitical and economic situation posed new challenges for equity investors, and also added a lot of uncertainty,” said associate partner JP Weber Piotr Dalak, co-author of the report.
The survey was conducted among funds active in Poland. by the JP Weber consulting company under the patronage of the Polish Association of Capital Investors.
Source: JP Weber and CTK
