The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private sector arm, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and fund manager CRG Capital have announced the launch of the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Special Situations Fund to buy distressed assets in the region. It is hoped that the fund will raise €200m to buy distressed corporate assets in an attempt to aid recovery in CEE.
The groups are initially committing €36m to the fund which the IFC hopes will focus on "the acquisition, turnaround and resolution of corporate distressed assets". The fund is part of the Debt and Asset Recovery Programme, which was introduced at the World Bank meetings in 2009.
This is part of a wider IFC commitment to the region, as it has recently signed an agreement with the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency to provide up to $125m for trade financing to developing CEE economies hit by the crisis.
