The end of 2019 has been marked by an important transaction on the Romanian coffee market, through the recently signed partnership between 5 to go and Mozaik Investments. The largest chain of coffee shops in Eastern Europe and the most accessed franchise in Romania will start 2020 together with Mozaik Investments, which has decided to join 5 to go as a shareholder (35%). The business model is to remain unchanged, while the company that founded the 5 to go brand, together with Radu Savopol and Lucian Bădilă, remains a majority shareholder, with 65% of the shares.
"In the context of an effervescent international market, this transaction confirms the potential 5 to go has and gives even more confidence to entrepreneurs to access a franchise, building on a successful partnership. (...) I thank the Mozaik partners for giving us access to a broader vision of success and development, on both local and regional levels, "said Radu Savopol, co-founder 5 to go.
More details can be found in the press release which you can download here
Mozaik Investments is a privately held investment company with offices in Vienna, Bucharest and Bratislava created by a successful group of private equity specialists and entrepreneurs.
We typically invest in companies with a strong management team and products or services in niche segments, strong brands, or other strategic advantages that facilitate aggressive growth and regional expansion.
We focus on growth investments and do only exceptionally buy outs. We provide expansion capital for companies with a proven business case and an investment size between one and five million euros.
We help our Portfolio companies enhance value by supporting their development strategy, optimizing capital structure, negotiating with banks and other finance providers, helping select senior personnel and supporting geographic and/or sector expansion. We seldom take operative management positions but typically have a strong representation on the (Supervisory) Board.
Our investment decision is also based on the exit strategy we commonly agree with the company’s owners and we invest only if our interests are aligned.
Our investment horizon is typically between 3 to 7 years.
Our main regional focus is Central and Eastern Europe that we are covering from our existing offices in Austria, Romania and Slovakia, but we are also reviewing investment opportunities in Western Europe.
We have been investing for over 20 years in the CEE region during which we developed substantial expertise in industries such as media, aerospace, gaming, food & beverage, automotive, logistics and distribution, specialty chemicals, financial services and information technology. We will continue to leverage our extensive knowledge, experience and network in these sectors as well as explore any industry which exhibits strong growth potential.
Sacha Dragic is an experienced and well known entrepreneur, who has started and build up a variety of companies in Central Europe ranging from trading, to manufacturing and in 2008 Superbet, where he is largest shareholder and CEO. Superbet has become under Sacha’s leadership, a leading CE retail and online sportsbetting operator with over 4,000 employees and in excess of 2 bn euros turnover. Sacha joined Mozaik as an anchor Investor, is on the Investment Committee and contributes his vast experience and strategic thinking as entrepreneur and network to the Mozaik family. Sacha was educated in Paris and Belgrade and attended the University of Belgrade. In his early years he was one of the leading Yugoslavian junior chess players, a career path he dropped to pursue his own businesses.
Roland Haas founded - with the support of Sacha Dragic and Juraj Koman – Mozaik, in continuation of the investment activities originally started and performed through EFM/HKK Partners. Roland has been both operationally involved in investee companies, ranging from hands-on turn around manager in the automotive industry to most recently in Superbet as Group CFO, and has a strong track record in investing in private or illiquid companies which he started in 1994 when he founded EFM. Roland had, prior to focusing on private equity investments, a career in investment banking covering both research and advisory activities as well as structuring financial products. He has a degree in Economics from Vienna University.
Prior to teaming up with Mozaik in 2017, Vlad was Managing Partner of Capital Partners Romania, the biggest Romanian independent investment banking house, company that he co-founded in 2004. After more than 10 years within Capital Partners, time during which he also served as its CEO, the company was successfully sold to Banca Transilvania. The new entity, BT Capital Partners is now the biggest full service investment bank in Romania. As an investment banker, Vlad was personally involved in closing more than 100 transactions in M&A and debt raising, totaling more than 700 mln euros. As a private investor, Vlad has a broad experience in real estate and technology fields. Vlad holds a BS in Finance and Banking from the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest.
Golden Rock Studios is an online games development studio founded by two of the gaming industry’s most respected leaders, former William Hill CPO and Director of Gaming, James Curwen and Will Mathieson, the man behind more blockbuster casino games in the last seven years than any other individual in the industry.
Airborne offers customised surveillance solutions to its clients. The company consists of a team of experts coming from aviation, system engineering and geo-data acquisition. This unique combination of know-how enables Airborne to deliver innovative and flexible solutions customized for governments, police, military and many sectors of industry.
5 to go is the largest coffee chain in Eastern Europe, specialized in coffee to-go. It has outgrown its main competitors in the span of less than 5 years, currently operating more than 150 locations across Romania.
The management team of Mozaik has a long history in Private Equity that goes back to 1994:
