Chinese, Libyans eye Ukraine agribusinesses-paper

Investors from China and Libya are interested in buying agribusinesses in Ukraine to secure food supplies, a newspaper quoted top Austrian investment bankers as saying.

We have had a few requests from China and Libya, for example, who would like to make large acquisitions in the Ukrainian agriculture business, Wirtschaftsblatt quoted Raiffeisen Investment AG (RIAG) management board member Wolfgang Putschek as saying in an interview published on Friday.

Another investor was eyeing solar energy producers, he said, adding: Money is no object for the Chinese.

The investment banking arm of Raiffeisen Bank International is seeing a general upturn in mergers and acquisitions activity in eastern Europe, Putschek and colleague Martin Schwedler told the newspaper.

Compared with last year our pipeline for RIAG projects has risen more than 100 percent, Putschek was quoted as saying. RIAG aimed to double its fee income every year until 2015.

We are seeing transcation values of six to eight times EBITDA again. Private equity funds are getting back into the game as well because they can raise more debt and offer better prices, Schwedler said.

He estimated private equity funds had amassed 5 billion to 7 billion euros to invest in central and eastern Europe.