Rothschild & Co is in talks with investors looking at the reconstruction of Ukraine and "hopes" to announce two deals worth more than $200 million each in the first quarter of 2024, a senior Rothschild official said.
While most traditional investors wait for the end of the war and greater guarantees of rule of law and physical safety, others are ready to invest in Ukraine now and are slowly doing so, said Giovanni Salvetti, head of the CIS Region for Rothschild.
"There is a different type of investor," Salvetti said at the 7th Annual Ukrainian Investment Roadshow in London, attended by Ukraine Rebuild Newswire. "We are speaking with these people and I think, I hope, I will be able to announce maybe a couple of deals over $200 million in the first quarter of next year."
He described the "different type" as "more like speculative, opportunistic investors and specialized funds in special situations, which are skillful for this type of situation and they like to buy at a bargain price. And then there are entrepreneurial-based people. They don't have to be in boards to discuss."
Negotiation anecdote
Salvetti offered no further details of the planned investments, but he did follow up the comments with an anecdote of a recently failed negotiation to illustrate the point that many businessmen in Ukraine fail to revalue their businesses despite the war.
"Locals, unless they have a certain price they don't sell," he said. "I tried to buy a pretty big business from a Ukrainian businessman a few months ago. It was in the hundreds of millions of dollars - let's say $300 million or more. We made a proper analysis and we went to the owner and said OK, the value of the business is this and we can offer a premium.
"The guy said, you know what, before the war it was $700 million. I prefer to wait for the war to be over. I don't need to sell. I know the price is right, you did the calculation right ... but I have in mind this price and I don't want to sell."
