This Week on the Frontiers, February 24th 2018
The Wall Street Journal
Read the full article on WSJ here.
By Dan Keeler | 23 February 2018
Private equity investments into emerging and frontier markets hit a record last year but some regions experienced sharp declines—a development that suggests structural changes are under way in investors’ approaches to these markets. According to figures from the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association, investment into frontier markets in Central and Eastern Europe more than doubled and into frontier markets in the Commonwealth of Independent States grew by almost 40%. Flows into frontier Asia dropped by 41% and investment in the Middle East and North Africa plunged by more than 75%.
“The bright side for the MENA region is that there were more first-time funds raised than in any year since 2010,” Jeff Schlapinski, head of research at EMPEA, told the Journal. “A lot of the new funds are smaller venture-capital-type funds that focus on early-stage opportunities.”