Edgar Swaab

Edgar Swaab (Eddy Swaab) Latest Investment

Edgar Swaab’s (Eddy Swaab)  latest private investment is Futuris, a huge state of the art business centre in Minsk, Belarus.  The centre will be built by private investors from several European countries (of which Eddy is one) and will eventually become their property.  Eddy backs his co-investor, Vincent Petrillo’s opinion that the project will be a masterpiece and an architectural symbol of the gates of historical Minsk.  They believe that Belarus is an important commercial crossroads of European and CIS countries.Eddy and the other investors are working alongside the famous Belarusian architect, Victor Kramarenko  (architect of the Cinema ‘Moscow’, the railway station building, and the National Library of Belarus).

MINSK - Business Centre - Edgar Swaab (Eddy Swaab)

In Minsk begins the construction of a 25-storey building business centre named “Futuris” which is 103 m in height. The opening ceremony on September 3rd marked the beginning of construction.  This was attended by all the major investors, including Edgar Swaab (Eddy Swaab).

In Minsk begins the construction of a 25-storey building business centre named “Futuris” which is 103 m in height. The opening ceremony on September 3rd marked the beginning of construction.  This was attended by all the major investors, including Edgar Swaab (Eddy Swaab).
This tower will be built at the intersection of Independence Avenue and Ring Road. According to the architects, the building should dominate the surrounding area for many miles around. The height of construction from foundation to spire will be 103 m. At 25 floors it will house 45 thousand square meters of office and retail space, which will employ about 1300 people. The silhouette of the building will be crowned by two pointed spires and soaring among them a giant ball of golden glass.
At the start of construction ceremony, attended by Eddy Swaab, chairman of Minsk city executive committee Nikolai Ladutko, confirmed that such a large project as “Futuris” gets full support from the municipal authorities. “We will give full support to investors and builders.  The Center will be a great attraction of capital and business activity”, – said the mayor of Minsk.
Nicholas Ladutko also added that the project is consistent for a long time and discussed, “there was a lot of hard work before it was decided to design and construct the centre.”
Nicholas Ladutko reported that a contract with a strategic investor in “Futuris” had been arrange. His name is Vincent Petrilli – who is a close friend and associate of Eddy Swaab.  Completion for the project is planned for the summer of 2013, when Eddy intends to make several return trips to Minsk.
According to Vincent Petrilli, the volume to be invested in the project is $ 60-70 million and the payback period of that money is less than 6 years.
Investors expressed their appreciation and gratitude to the state authorities of Belarus, who approved this project.  Vincent Petrilli also explained why he agreed to finance the project. “Foreign strategic investors often ask me about the working climate in Belarus. I can now say that Belarus is a great place to work and there is huge potential to promote fruitful co-operation with foreign investors.”

Although an admitted technophobe having come to email late but now a Blackberry user and loving it, if only to keep up with the children, Edgar Swaab (Eddy Swaab) has rather more interest in investing in it. Like most investors who would give their right arm for the holy grail of investments such as the new Microsoft or long life battery he invests regularly in some long term projects. This tends to be more private equity related, covered in another item, but often on board with new ideas whether it be .com ( a good year) or solar power (patchy).

Edgar Swaab (Eddy Swaab) has been interested and has invested in private equity for a great number of years both directly and through mutual funds.

His investments range from millions of Euros to tens of thousands. His taste is eclectic and varies from film production to green projects and sustainable energy.

His motivation for private equity investments is both philanthropic and profit driven. He will often help friends with specific projects as well as investing in companies in their last funding rounds prior to an IPO.

The thread that can be seen throughout his investment strategy is management – management – management. No matter how good an idea may be, if the management cannot develop it, produce it and sell it – it will not succeed.

At the moment, Eddy’s private equity portfolio is focused mainly on green projects involving waste management and latter stage internet projects. He was one of the core investors in the production of the film “Astro Boy”.

Whilst Eddy is always happy to look at any project, he has a team of “gatekeepers” to help filter out the more crazy proposals

Edgar Swaab (Eddy Swaab) has had numerous attempts at investing in a small AIM resource companies from Russian Gold mines to Kazakhstan Oil and Gas and his portfolio has a number of rump investments which have arisen from either IPO’s and sometimes pre IPO.

He states that the problem with these small companies is liquidity and only one in 10 is a runaway success with some going quickly belly up and other just marking time and using capital that could be more usefully employed elsewhere. He would rather trade Fiat or Philips for 10% 3 or 4 times a year than investing in something that may double over 2 or 3 years, knowing that if required he call sell a top line stock almost 24hrs a day. His AIM investments are now much smaller than previously and then only if the ‘cause’ strikes a nerve.

His best investment in this area was as an investor in the RAB Capital Special Situations fund which he had from inception to mid 2007. He admits to being a bit lucky with his timing there too. To invest was an easy decision as he knew the people but the exit was fortuitous as RAB had some onerous redemption timings that were accidentally missed twice increasing the return by about 25%. “Happy to take luck when it comes. For each of these I have half a dozen that have gone the other way!”

Edgar Swaab (Eddy Swaab) long saw the resurgence of China and has involved himself in that part of the world owning stakes in a microchip company and has been an ambassador for the Trophy Property fund run by Kenneth Hung of Trophy Fund fame (2005 World’s top performing hedge fund).

Edgar Swaab (Eddy Swaab) is certain that the key to successful investing in Asia is to find a partner who you can 100% trust and will keep him informed of progress especially when the news is bad.