Bratislava, March 6th 2008 – In January this year, the private equity group, Arca Capital, together with its investment partners, obtained a majority stake in the Ukrainian company CheZaRa whose main focus is the production of communication and security systems in the space and civilian sectors. Arca Capital’s strategic goal is to restructure the company in terms of costs and strategy, improve the efficiency of management processes, strengthen its development and technical base and focus on production for the civilian sector.
“This is our first project in Ukraine focused on the complete restructuring of a company. We realise that the path ahead is difficult, both in terms of the company’s core business, because we are a foreign investment group, as well as from the social aspect of restructuring, since most companies in the Ukraine involved in the former Soviet Union’s space programme did not survive the process of transformation and the companies went under. CheZaRa’s employees and surroundings have a very sensitive perception of the situation,” says Ing. Rastislav Velič, Arca Capital’s financial manager.
CheZaRa (Черниговский завод радиоприборов) is a manufacturer of electro-technical equipment. The company was founded in 1967 as a state enterprise which was originally planned for the requirements of space research, and for many years was integrated in the rocket-space programme of the former Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and its markets, and also as a result of the conversion of military production, the company underwent a transformation in 1994. Two years later, the company was partially restructured. Twelve subsidiary companies and divisions were created which deal with a specific type of production or offer in-house services.
At present, CheZaRa makes systems for the electro-technical industry and telecommunications, produces digital switchboards, and provides the market with technological and technical instruments and measuring equipment for industry and the health sector. Systems for the space industry still make up a significant part of its production – over seventy percent. The company’s annual earnings represent approximately 20 million Euros.
The Arca Capital group plans to carry out extensive cost and strategic restructuring in the company. The basis of the cost restructuring will be a streamlining of production capacities and the sale of unneeded property. The strategic restructuring will be focused on strengthening the core business, setting new company visions, reorganising subsidiary companies and divisions, making the management processes more efficient and putting an end to unprofitable production lines.
An important role in the restructuring process will also be played by the strengthening of the development and technical base and its own research. The final goal of the mass restructuring is the building of a modern and perspective company focused on the electro-technical and telecommunications industry. Its target market should be the countries of the former USSR and Central Asia.
About the Arca Capital Group
Arca Capital is a private equity and real estate group of a holding type, with a presence in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Great Britain. In the future, it plans to carry out new and capital-intensive projects in the area of private equity and real estate both in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, but especially in Ukraine, where its presence has expanded. The group invests in companies in the sectors of the food industry, power engineering, civil engineering, telecommunications, information technologies and biotechnologies. In early 2008, it successfully completed a 5-year restructuring of the engineering company Czech Precision Forge, a.s. The current activities of the group in Slovakia are focused on development projects such as the construction of a designer furniture department store “LIGHTPARK” and the residential project “HUBICE DVORY”.(At the beginning of the year, the group has entered also the branch of geodesy and cartography by purchasing the company GEODÉZIE Bratislava, a.s.) In Ukraine, it is preparing an extensive residential project “Sedem prameňov” (Seven Springs) and the construction of two logistics centres. The Arca Capital Group also cooperates with the company Sollaris Developers in development and real estate projects in Slovakia and Ukraine. Arca Capital presently manages assets to a total value of approx. EUR 125 million. In December last year, the group issued corporate bonds worth SKK 500 million, thus allowing potential individual investors to participate in financing its projects.
Further information:
Monika Dobrovodská
Marketing & PR manager
Arca Capital
tel.: (+421) 2 5825 3514,
GSM: (+421) 903 771 656
e-mail: dobrovodska@arcainvestments.sk
www.arcacapital.sk
