Author: Petra Jamrichová
Source: Hospodárske noviny, 18. 2. 2010, pg. 1

UPPER HEADLINE: Acquisitions. Investment groups have their sights on foreign firms.

Slovak financiers are steadily recovering from the crisis and the problems it caused, and they are once again buying on a large scale.

“We are currently engaged in an acquisition in the machinery industry in Slovakia” clams the spokesman of Slavia Capital, Peter Benčúrik. The company also has an application to purchase petrochemical assets in Central Europe, priced in the order of tens of millions of Euros.

Pavol Krúpa from Arca Capital has also regained his appetite for acquisitions. Not only does he aim to take over Ukrainian construction giant, Charkovmetrostroj, but his group is also currently preparing for the takeover of two eco-business firms.

Although the J&T group needed to restructure some parts of its activities due to the crisis, today it has grand plans in the Tatras once more. It plans to invest as much as 90 million Euros over a three-year period.

Michal Mišun from Redbaenk claims that the financial groups are focusing on the region that they know well, and where they already have connections. “I expect that many interesting opportunities will occur in the region where they operate,” he added.