WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 21 -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has invested US$5 million in equity financing in the EuroMerchant Balkan Fund, a venture capital fund capitalized at US$27.3 million. The Fund will invest in small and medium-sized companies in Bulgaria and may also invest selectively in other countries in the region. The Fund is sponsored by EuroMerchant Bank S.A., the third largest privately-owned bank in Greece, and managed by Global Finance S.A., an Athens-based venture capital group partly owned by Baring Venture Partners of the United Kingdom. The Fund will be incorporated in Luxembourg as a closed-ended investment company with a life of ten years. Private investors are providing 51 percent of the Fund's capital and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is investing US$8.3 million. "IFC's strategy in Bulgaria is to provide a broad range of technical and financial support for the development of private sector," said Mr. Daniel Adams, IFC Vice President for Capital Mar
kets. "We hope that IFC's investment will encourage foreign private investment both in Bulgaria and the Balkan region." IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is the largest multilateral source of equity and loan finance for private sector projects in developing countries. (30)
