The International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, has decided to invest $25 million in the Rebuild Ukraine Fund LP (REBUF), a private equity fund established by the Ukrainian investment company Dragon Capital in 2024. The fund aims to support the recovery and development of small and medium-sized enterprises in Ukraine.
This is reported by Finway
Priority Investment Areas of the Fund
The Rebuild Ukraine Fund has a target size of $250 million. The fund will focus its investments on companies operating in sectors such as consumer goods and services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, financial services, agribusiness, building materials manufacturing, retail, and technology. Special attention will be given to enterprises that can become drivers of the country’s economic recovery.
Anchor Investor and Guarantees for Private Capital
IFC serves as the key or so-called anchor investor of the fund with a partial first-loss guarantee: 50% of the investment amount is protected by the government of France and other international guarantors. The corporation emphasized that this approach is crucial for the successful launch of the fund due to the challenges of attracting private capital amid the ongoing war.
“Its investment is critical for the fund’s first closing, as attracting private capital during wartime remains challenging.”
Since the onset of the full-scale invasion by Russia, IFC has supported only one similar fund — the Horizon Capital Growth Fund IV with a volume of $350 million. According to IFC forecasts, the main sources of funding for REBUF will be development finance institutions (DFIs). In addition to IFC, Dragon Capital will invest $20 million of its own into the fund, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will contribute another $25 million.