OREANDA-NEWS. The EBRD has joined forces with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the CapMan Russia II Fund, a private equity fund in which the Bank is an investor, to support MAYKOR, the leading Russian IT outsourcing and service provider.

The three partners will invest up to USD 100 million in a series of stages in MAYKOR’s equity that will allow the group to grow its share of the Russian IT market, whose turnover exceeded USD 24 billion in 2012.

The RDIF will invest USD 50 million – with the EBRD and CapMan Russia II contributing the remaining part.

The new funds will support MAYKOR’s growth strategy in order to increase the scale of its operations, as well as extend the company’s geographic reach across Russia.

MAYKOR has a leading market position in Russia and focuses on the comprehensive one-stop-shop servicing of IT equipment, facility systems and business applications. Founded in 2010, MAYKOR services over 1,000 large and medium clients in various industries across the country and employs over 3,000 certified engineers.

In addition to its equity investment, the EBRD will assist MAYKOR in implementing the highest corporate governance standards.

MAYKOR is the third Russian group in which the RDIF and the EBRD are co-investors.

In January 2012, the Bank acquired a 6.29 percent stake in Russia’s Moscow Exchange, the first such investment by the EBRD in a trading exchange in its countries of operation. The RDIF initially bought a 1.25 percent stake in the Moscow Exchange, which has since been increased.

Subsequently, the RDIF bought a stake in Russian power generating company OGK-5, in which the EBRD is a shareholder.

The RDIF, Russia’s newest sovereign wealth fund, was established in June 2011 to make equity investments, primarily in Russia. Its managing company is a 100 percent subsidiary of Vnesheconombank, Russia’s development institution.

In each investment it makes, the RDIF is mandated to secure co-investment that as a minimum matches its own commitment, thus acting as a catalyst for direct investment into the Russian economy.

Earlier in 2013, the EBRD committed up to EUR 50 million for the launch of the CapMan Russia II Fund which invests in small and medium-sized companies. The fund’s first closing took place in March 2013 and raised around USD 124 million. The MAYKOR transaction represents this new fund’s first investment.