SBI Joins Hungarian MFB to Open New European Fund

Japan’s SBI Holdings, Inc. has joined forced with the Hungarian state owned bank, Magyar Fejlesztesi Bank Zrt. (MFB) to set up a new Eastern European investment fund. Sixty percent of the EUR 100 million fund will be held by SBI, MFB holding the remaining forty percent. The action comes on the heels of the global financial crisis making its way through the Eastern European region. The company plans to invest in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, hoping for a return of as much as 20%.

Elan SBI Capital Partners / SBI Europe Fund
SBI Holdings and MFB Invest signed a memorandum of understanding in August of 2008 to establish the SBI Europe Fund. Setting up the fund was completed in December 2208, making it the first fund in CEE created through a joint partnership with a public bank.

The fund was established in Hungary and is to be managed by Elan SBI Capital Partners, a subsidiary of SBI Holdings.

The primary focus for the investments will be small and medium-size enterprises involved in the bio-technology and software sectors.

SBI Holdings (www.sbigroup.co.jp)
SBI Corporation was founded in Tokyo in July of 1999, as a private investment and equity firm. In 2005 the company moved to a holding structure and re-branded itself SBI Holdings. Inc. The company is a group of 47 subsidiaries with operations in asset management, brokerage and commercial banking, financial services, and housing & real estate. SBI Holdings employs more than 2,700 across the entire group.