Geneva-headquartered Quaero Capital has launched the New Europe equity fund, an Ucits vehicle targeting small and mid cap growth companies (smid) with large exploitable opportunities based in Eastern Europe and other peripheral states (including Greece, Turkey and Russia).
Quaero Capital’s New Europe fund is aimed at the UK investors and will be focused on quality companies that are often unrecognised by the market and rarely covered by analysts.
Arrash Zafari – who is the fund manager – joined Quaero Capital’s SMID unit in 2014, a team run by Philip Best and Marc St John Webb.
Zafari commented: “There are a significant number of high quality, small businesses across Eastern Europe. Among them are those which offer all the advantages that we see from companies in more mature markets but are simply ignored by those more inclined to go for the big names. In my view, these large East European companies are the ones most prone to external risks, including political risk, and that has coloured investor sentiment for the wider market.
“Smaller Eastern European companies are left alone to get on with what they do best, and many are seeking to develop along the same lines as their western European counterparts. I therefore believe that the opportunities offered by New Europe will provide a new dimension to our European small and mid-cap strategies, and a new dimension for investors in the UK.”
