Dedeman’s Paval brothers set up equity fund to invest in SMEs

Anca Alexe 20/05/2019 | 13:46

Brothers Dragos and Adrian Paval, the owners of Dedeman, a company estimated to be worth about EUR 2 billion, have announced that they are launching a new private equity fund called Equiliant Capital, which will invest in SMEs in Romania.

The fund will be fully backed by Paval Holding, which has a social capital of EUR 1 billion and represents the largest direct ownership by Romanian entrepreneurs (60 percent by Dragos Paval and 40 percent by his brother, Adrian).

Equiliant Capital will be led by Laurentiu Ciocirlan, the head of Raiffeisen bank’s investment department, who will be leaving the bank after 15 years.

“We believe that it’s the right moment to address this segment, which has too few options for development, despite the fact that they are the most dynamic and promising category in the Romanian economy,” said Dragos Paval about the new equity fund back in April.

The two brothers have also recently bought The Office building in Cluj-Napoca from NEPI Rockcastle and Ovidiu Sandor, and last year they were involved in one of the largest real estate transactions in Romania, taking over the office project The Bridge from Forte Partners, for EUR 200 million.