Dragon Capital and East Capital Bering Ukraine Fund acquire 70% stake in Chumak

Investment bank Dragon Capital and East Capital Bering Ukraine Fund jointly acquired a 70% stake from Chumak’s co-founder, Professor Hans Rausing. Chumak is the largest tomato processing company in Central and Eastern Europe and one of Ukraine’s top brands.

Chumak (www.chumak.com)
Chumak is one of Ukraine’s most famous food companies, known for its expertise in processing and marketing natural high-quality food products made in Kherson region, Ukraine’s agricultural heartland located near the Black Sea coast. The Company is one of the largest producers of ketchup, mayonnaise, sauces, canned vegetables and past in Ukraine.

Chumak, established in 1996 by two Swedish businessmen, Carl Sturen and Johan Boden, sells its products under the brand Chumak, which is today one of Ukraine’s most popular FMCG brands.

The Company owns a state-of-the-art production facility and a logistics center in Kakhovka (Kherson Region) and also has commercial offices in Myiv, Minsk and Moscow. Chumak employs about 1,000 people.

East Capital and East Capital Bering Ukraine Fund (www.eastcapital.com)
Founded in 1997, East Capital is an independent asset manager specialising in Eastern European financial markets. The Company, which is headquartered in Stockholm, with offices in Paris, Tallinn, Moscow, Oslo, Hong Kong, Milan and Vienna, actively manages over € 5.7 billion.

The aim of the East Capital Bering Ukraine Fund is to achieve long-term capital appreciation from investments in Ukrainian equities, both listed and unlisted. Investments in the Fund are closed for four years.

Dragon Capital (www.dragon-capital.ua)
Dragon Capital is Ukraine’s largest securities brokerage, investment banking, private equity and asset management firm offering a full range of service to institutional, corporate and private clients. Dragon Capital is the largest broker on the Ukrainian stock market, with a 34% market share in 2007. The Company has completed 20 IPOs and private placements for Ukrainian companies since 2005, raising USD 1.5 billion. Dragon’s asset management arm has nearly USD 1 billion under management.

Established in 2000, the company is an independent partnership controlled by management, with a small minority stake held by Goldman Sachs.