The advisor to the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund, Amber Fund Management, presented its investment conditions to the Bulgarian business sector

The Bulgarian business sector will have one more instrument for long-term investment in energy, transport, and digital infrastructure. This was revealed at the first meeting of the investment advisor to the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund (3SIIF), Amber Fund Management Limited, with representatives of Bulgarian business. The event was organized by the Bulgarian Development Bank (BDB) and was attended by over 90 participants from leading employer organizations and businesses in the country.

This was the first from a series of meetings that are part of the Bulgarian presidency of the 3SIIF in 2021. The investment philosophy and emphasis of the investment fund were described – it is going to look for investment assets and projects with the potential for commercial returns and stable long-term operating revenue. Some of the key investments will be project in the energy, transport, and digital infrastructure sectors, including projects that will assist the transition to a carbon-neutral economy.

The 3SI fund can invest share capital in public, private, and public-private regional projects that are in accordance with the funding priority areas. Under certain conditions, the fund may also co-finance beneficiaries under EU operational programmes, as long as their projects are in accordance with the conditions and can guarantee sustainability. The target investment size is from 50 to 250 million euro.

The Three Seas Initiative is a political project of 12 European countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia and the Czech Republic. At the Bucharest Summit in 2018, it was decided to create an investment fund with the initiative that will finance the approved projects proposed by the participating countries. The expected target size of the Luxembourg-seated fund will be 3-5 billion euro, and the profile of potential investors includes regional institutions and development banks, international financial institutions and others.

The 3SI fund has been structured in accordance with the best investment practices, and the project selection is done by a fund manager who employs the services of an exclusive investment advisor – Amber Fund Management Limited. Project selection will be carried out with an entirely market-based approach, and the fund manager and the investment advisor may benefit from the local knowledge of shareholders like BDB.

The funds currently raised from shareholders amount to around 1.2 billion euro, which will be invested as risk capital in priority projects for the countries from the region between the Baltic, the Adriatic, and the Black Sea. The Bulgarian Development Bank is an investor in the fund with a commitment of 20 million euro.