Balkan Advisory Company Ltd. (BAC) was set up in Ireland in early 1998 as a fully-owned subsidiary of Europa Capital Management a.s. (ECM - www.ecm.cz), an asset management house headquartered in Prague and focused on Central and Eastern Europe. BAC has been the investment banking advisory arm of ECM covering projects across the Balkan countries.
In November 2000 BAC Ireland was sold by the principals of ECM to Mr. Vladimir Karolev who was the Country Director for Bulgaria of ECM and Senior Fund Manager of ECM-Bulgarian Post Privatization Fund (ECM-BPPF), a 40 million EURO private equity fund. Upon the spin-off of Balkan Advisory Company from ECM, Vladimir Karolev resigned from his positions with ECM and ECM-BPPF to focus on the activities of BAC. On 1st March, 2001, Alexander Bebov, an investment banker, formerly with JP Morgan and Schroders Salomon Smith Barney (CITI GROUP) in New York and London, joined BAC as a partner in charge of capital markets' projects.
Drawing on the experience of its principals and consultants in European emerging markets, Balkan Advisory Company succeeded in taking an active role in the field of investment structuring and advising in Bulgaria and is currently expanding its activities in other South East Europe emerging market countries. Building upon its strong local presence combined with top-notch Western know-how and proven track record, BAC is providing top M & A counsil, privatization and project finance advisory services. BAC strategy is to provide customized and focused “just-in-time” advice to blue chip international investors, local corporates, and various state institutions.
With its associates from Financial Network Inc., a US based boutique investment bank, BAC provides various debt related services, such as debt-to-equity swaps, debt recovery, issuance of sovereign and local corporate debt, debt net-offs, etc.