Published: June 18, 2009
UFG Asset Management has hired Robert Sasson, the former head of the St Petersburg office of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), as senior managing partner of UFG Private Equity. He will co-head the firm’s Moscow-based private equity business alongside Charles Ryan, chairman of UFG Asset Management.
Before joining UFG Asset Management, Sasson worked with a US hedge fund on private equity transactions in Russia and Ukraine. Before that, he was head of the EBRD’s St Petersburg office.
"We are excited that Robert Sasson will co-head the UFG private equity team. He brings to UFG Asset Management over 19 years of invaluable Russia and finance experience and an impressive track record, including 15 years working on private equity transactions.” says Charles Ryan, chairman of UFG Asset Management.
Founded in 1996, UFG Asset Management provides asset management and investment advisory services for both onshore and offshore institutional and private investors wishing to invest in the capital markets of Russia and the CIS.
UFG’s private equity business has US$300mn in commitments and funds under management in two funds: UFG Private Equity Fund I and UFG Private Equity Fund II. Since its inception in 2005, the firm has invested over US$250mn in a portfolio of 13 companies in consumer, food, travel, media and finance with an aggregate transaction enterprise value of nearly US$1bn.
In the middle of June, UFG Private Equity had the first closing of its UFG Private Equity Fund II at US$150mn, and is planning to hold a second and final at the end of the year with the target fund size of US$200mn. EBRD is one of the largest investors in the UFG Fund II, with up to US$50mn.
UFG Private Equity Fund II will focus on acquiring equity stakes in high-quality middle market companies in Russia and the CIS, particularly those which require a restructuring of their capital base or which plan to pursue consolidations opportunities.
UFG Private Equity invests in companies across Russia and the CIS with particular focus on Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.