Venture Capital in CEE

Venture Capital in Central and Eastern Europe: a decade of opportunity

Author: Piotr Wisniewski, PhD, ASI

Publication date: December 2008 Price: £125.00

ISBN: 978 1904905 07 3

Format: Hardback, royal octavo, c.250pp

This publication stems from the author’s research on Polish, as well as Czech, Slovak, Hungarian and Eastern European venture capital markets; providing an overview of how venture capital investment has emerged and evolved in the post-communist economies over the past decade of socio-economic transition.

Venture capital has – since the collapse of communism – become an established corporate finance instrument in all Central and Eastern Europe, CEE. Its growing popularity has owed as much to a unique flexibility among more traditional financiers active in the emerging markets (i.e. stock exchanges, bank lending, corporate debt issuance) as to a relatively high sophistication and under-valuation of intangible assets across CEE (from innovative information technology applications to pioneering research projects in life sciences).

The book is a universal guide to venture capitalism in CEE and is expected to attract a broad readership: from a seasoned, globally orientated venture capital ‘cherry-picker’ contemplating expansion or diversification into CEE, to a local entrepreneur seeking “smart capital” from funds operating in the region, to a complete layman wondering what venture capital in CEE might be all about.

The book will address the historical development and current scale of venture capital investment in the region (driven, on the one side, by the pace of macro- and micro-economic restructuring and European Union convergence, high technology innovation and diffusion and, on the other, gradual improvement in corporate governance standards and reduction of inherent risk).

The principal information sources will combine data obtained from pan-European, regional and national venture capital associations, statistical bureaux, international economic organisations and academia.

About the author

Piotr Wisniewski (piotr_wisniewski@yahoo.com) is a graduate of the Warsaw School of Economics in Poland and American Minnesota University with several years’ securities research, corporate finance and fund management experience in European emerging markets, currently advising the board of TFI PZU S.A., an investment fund management company set up by the largest Polish insurer, PZU Group.

Preface

Chapter 1: Venture capital / private equity: fundamental concepts

q Definition, origins and evolution

q Principal worldwide markets: US and Europe

q Pan-European venture capital industry: current status

q CEE – macro- / micro-convergence story: “New Europe”

Chapter 2: Knowledge based society in CEE: key return drivers

q Definition and economic significance

q Categories, measures, expansion and international diffusion

q Direct correlation with venture capital growth

q CEE as reservoir of knowledge assets

Chapter 3: Corporate governance in CEE: key risk factors

q Information asymmetry: principal investment challenge

q Corporate governance: yardsticks

q CEE corporate governance league tables

q Venture capital friendliness: review of legal/tax jurisdictions

Chapter 4: Potential for venture capital expansion in CEE

q Overview of leading CEE markets (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russian Federation, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)

q Venture capital penetration in Old Europe vs. CEE

q CEE venture capital risk/return balance

q Systemic obstacles to venture capitalism in CEE

Conclusions

Appendices

q National currencies and exchange rates against £, $ and €

q Key tax rates for each country

q Incentive programmes and the strings attached

q Glossary of key terms for each country (a lexicon of venture capital)

If you have suggestions for improvements in future editions of this publication please contact us via the publishers or e-mail us on VCCEE@spiramus.com.

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