Advent

"Advent had competed in the privatisation of Bulgaria’s national telecommunications carrier, Bulgarian Telecommunications Company (BTC), and won in an open auction conducted by ING Barings. The bid it lodged through a consortium was the highest but the deal had got stuck and the firm was looking for someone who knew the Bulgarian system to come into the consortium and get things moving. I had not been in telecoms before but I knew Bulgaria. ‘Fine,’ I said, ‘but I want to invest as much as you.’ We structured it so that Advent and the investment consortium Carrera, which I led, both took 25 per cent stakes, with seven other investors making up the remaining 50 per cent. It took two…"

"‘Fine,’ I said, ‘but I want to invest as much as you.’ We structured it so that Advent and the investment consortium Carrera, which I led, both took 25 per cent stakes, with seven other investors making up the remaining 50 per cent. It took two years for us to finalise the acquisition and we had to do some last-minute renegotiating in the prime minister’s office where I was instrumental in coming up with a solution."

"We were also making a great deal of money and I stayed with the tried and trusted financial partners that I had worked with before. Deutsche Bank and Advent could be relied upon. The deals kept coming."