In 2010 almost all countries in Central and South Eastern Europe and CIS as well as Turkey will find their way back to GDP growth. The corresponding rise in energy consumption - underlined by positive longterm growth assumptions - will put a familiar topic back on top of the agenda: the strong need to modernise and to expand the energy infrastructure in the entire region to meet future demand. The need for new investment and modernisation across the entire energy sectors across the value chains will be one main driver which will actively influence the business. Budgetary constraints of some countries will further pave the way for direct private investment and public private partnerships, e.g. in the power generation sector.

Another growth driver will be the renewable energy sector. Climate change and corresponding EU legislation will foster investments in energy generation from renewable sources. Many EU countries in our region have initiated investment support schemes that belong to the most favourable ones in the entire Union.

At the same time, investors have adjusted their investment strategies in the past two years. Some strategic investors have ambitious growth plans and an increasing number of infrastructure funds or focused energy funds look to invest in our region. In parallel, we see some investors being interested to focus on certain regions and parts of the value chain are consequently being open to dispose assets.

All of the above mentioned factors describe our business environment in which we have strong competitive advantages: Doing business in these regions requires professional corporate finance advisory skills, knowledge of local culture, the specific sectors and relationships with decision-makers. Raiffeisen Investment’s energy team offers an integrated solution combining sector and corparate finance expertise with local know-how provided by our subsidiaries in every major CEE capital. Moreover we provide access to the full range of the Raiffeisen group's financial products.

Our energy team focuses on providing Corporate Finance - in particular M&A and Project Investment - advisory services in the following fields:

·         Oil & Gas

·         Power

·         Renewables

·         Heat

·         Water

·         Waste Water

·         Waste

·         Related services