Euro-Phoenix Financial Advisors Ltd has its sights set on Poland. The company, which first opened its doors in 2000 in Budapest, has been doing business across Central Europe for years. It has been active in the Polish market since 2001.

“M&A activity was curtailed somewhat in Poland in the past, because, due to an exuberant stock market, any CEO who did the math saw that he could get more for selling 49 percent of his company on the stock exchange than 100 percent to a strategic investor,” said Les Nemethy, the firm’s CEO and author of a syndicated column which appears on WBJ.pl. “Now the stock exchange pricing is more realistic; M&A is a real option.”

Mr Nemethy pointed out that Poland’s M&A market has begun to heat up, which added impetus to the decision to open up a Warsaw office. “I don’t think it’s possible for any business to have a Central European strategy without a presence in Poland,” he added.
Despite lacking an office there until this January, the company’s 2008 revenues from deals in Romania surpassed revenues from its home market of Hungary. Its Croatia office, after one year, has already doubled employment. The company has some 27 staff members located throughout Central Europe.

“In Poland we plan to start with two to three people, but that could grow quickly if we have similar success like we had in Croatia,” Mr Nemethy said.

The firm is looking for either an individual or partner company who will be “a force in the M&A community in its own right,” said Mr Nemethy. He also noted that Euro-Phoenix is “fully aware” that Poland is a complex and competitive market, with a number of quality boutique M&A firms that could pose strong competition.

When asked about his company’s advantages, Mr Nemethy cited his company’s regional network, which will help Polish companies in their regional expansion, and its independence. “Independence allows us to have a deal-driven entrepreneurial corporate culture, rather than being an economic or cultural appendage to a big institution.”