PFR Ventures with a fund of funds dedicated to Private Equity

PFR Ventures expands its operations and starts investing in Private Equity funds The first three investments have already been made in the Private Equity Fund (PFR PE). PFR PE will invest over PLN 600 million up to 2022.

The PFR PE fund is dedicated to investments in private equity funds. Alternative assets are an area where institutional investors around the world are investing an increasing proportion of their funds. Over the last ten years, pension funds have increased their allocation to this asset class from a dozen to more than 25%[i]. The largest part of alternative assets are private equity investments, the share of which increased from a few to several percent during this period.

PFR PE has already made three investments in private equity funds. The funds went to Value4Capital, Innova Capital and Mezzanine Management. At the beginning of the year, as part of the Group synergy, PFR PE went under management to PFR Ventures.

I believe that PFR Ventures will expand its role as a professional fund manager in the coming years. At the moment, funds are already invested in three asset classes: growth, venture capital and private equity. We hope that in the coming years we will also add the area of debt funds, and perhaps also real estate or infrastructure funds to this list

says Paweł Borys, President of the Polish Development Fund.

After concentrating our competence in the area of venture capital investments, we are expanding our business with a new class of assets. Private Equity is an area where institutional investors are active worldwide. We want Polish taxpayers' and pensioners' money to be invested more often in this class of assets, which so far has brought higher rates of return than investments in listed companies

says Maciej Ćwikiewicz, President of PFR Ventures.

At the moment, PFR Ventures manages seven funds of funds. Five of them are active programs built on the basis of funds from the Smart Growth Operational Programme. The sixth one was established on the basis of the recently absorbed National Capital Fund (PFRK). The last fund is the newly created PFR Private Equity.

PFR Ventures has in its portfolio more than 50 venture capital funds (16 of which at the exit stage) and 3 private equity funds (including one mezzanine type). The total amount that PFR Ventures has so far invested in these funds is nearly PLN 2 billion.
 

[i] Milliman, 2019 Corporate Pension Funding; Milliman, 2018 Public Pension Funding Study; PFR Ventures analysis