Investing in uncertainty: KAMA FLOW at the Private Equity and M&A conference

KAMA FLOW partner Evgeny Borisov took part in the 7th annual Private Equity and M&A conference for private equity and venture capital market participants. He moderated the panel discussion "Deal Search and Deal Generation - How to Find the Next Big Opportunity". All leading PE&VC players took part in the discussion: Sergey Amiryan (Voskhod Fund), Dmitry Vodyannikov (Portofino Capital), Alexei Milevsky (M9 Capital), Yaroslav Markov (Osnova Capital), Roman Sitnikov (New Industry Fund), Ivan Kuzmenkov (Nornickel), and Yuri Mashintsev (RDIF).

As part of the discussion, Evgeny Borisov expressed concern about the declining confidence of retail investors in IPOs: "Unfortunately, insufficient regulation and poor asset quality have undermined the attractiveness of such strategies. Therefore, for the further development of the market it is especially important to restore confidence in IPOs, which is happening now - we see a number of statements by major players about public offerings, and there are already successful cases. We hope that in 2025 we will see more such stories.

Yaroslav Markov (Osnova Capital) spoke about strategies focused on avoiding high-risk, highly leveraged transactions (LBOs) in favour of sustainable cases and stressed that an individual approach to deal structures, investor engagement and long-term relationships with management contribute to business growth and financial stability. Ivan Kuzmenkov (Nornickel) said: "The current economic environment creates both challenges and opportunities. In this regard, the discipline of transactions and asset integration is important, as well as the potential of stressed assets and new business models to conquer markets."

Sergey Amiryan (Voskhod Fund) spoke about the need for tax incentives to ensure the transition of capital from deposits to the stock market, and also noted that owners of successful assets often take a wait-and-see attitude, preferring not to sell the business at low multiples and counting on more favourable market conditions in the future.

Summarising the discussion, Evgeny Borisov noted that despite all the difficulties, it is important to launch new funds and generate more investment opportunities for companies that show sustainable growth, and to prove their readiness to support promising projects even in a difficult economic situation.