iEurope Seeks $100M To Boost Profile In Central Europe

New York-based iEurope Capital LLC has started marketing its second fund, hoping to gather up to $100 million for investment in high-growth companies in Central Europe. A first close for iEurope Fund II LLC, the size of which is an ambitious step-up from the firm’s first pool of less than $10 million, will likely occur within the next two quarters.

iEurope Capital’s second vehicle is earmarked for investments in the same countries as its first fund—Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia—but it will add Croatia, Romania and possibly Poland. Sectors of interest include the technology, media, food and beverage, consumer products, wellness, energy and environmental industries. A first close will likely occur within the next two quarters.

The firm is aiming to secure majority stakes in six to 12 companies over a three-year period. The target investment size ranges from $300,000 to $3 million. iEurope Capital mainly invests in private companies but also considers investing in public companies via stock purchases, private placements and recapitalizations.

The firm began investing in 2002 out of its freshman vehicle, iEurope Fund LLC, which was used to make four investments of $1 million to $2 million each, including both minority and majority stake deals. It has realized all of its investments from the first fund, including the exit of Vatera.hu, an online auction and e-commerce marketplace in Hungary in a deal that generated a gross IRR of 59 percent and a gross cash-on-cash return of 13.5x, and the exit of ATech elektronika, a designer and manufacturer of electronics assemblies in Slovenia, whose sale generated a gross IRR of 18 percent and a gross cash-on-cash return of more than 2.3x.

iEurope Capital was founded by managing partners Laszlo Czirjak and Kristina Perkin Davison. It currently has six professionals and intends to add two more around the time of the fund’s first close. The firm is backed by high-net-worth individuals from the United States and Western Europe.

iEurope Capital is using San Francisco-based Denning & Company to place the fund and Pepper Hamilton as legal advisor.