Darby Overseas: We have 100m dollars to invest

Darby Overseas, the private-equity and mezzanine finance division of the financial American group Franklin Templeton Investments, one of the leading investment fund managers worldwide has started to research the markets in Central and Eastern Europe, including Romania more intently, looking for investment opportunities, says Richard Frank, CEO of Darby Overseas. Franklin Templeton manages assets worth some 450 billion dollars (360 billion euros) worldwide, with assets managed by Darby Overseas standing at almost 2 billion dollars (1.6 billion euros). “We believe this is a good time to bring venture capital in the region in order to sustain the development of small and medium-sized companies. Whereas in terms of bank assets, the countries in the region are getting closer to the level of the European Union, in terms of venture capitals, they are still very far. In the region, there are no more than ten players in the field of venture capital,” the CEO of Darby Overseas told ZF. The company offered funding to one of the strategic investors interested in taking over drug maker Terapia Cluj from the Advent International fund, but ultimately the investor did not succeed in its takeover bid of Terapia; instead the company was taken over by the Indians at Ranbaxy.