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The past 24 months has presented some of the most challenging circumstances for European businesses in living memory, with both the coronavirus pandemic and energy crisis putting an enormous amount of pressure on company balance sheets. As discussed in our last report, we have been proactive in providing continuous support for the financial health of our portfolio companies. However, one key issue that does often get lost when looking at the health of small and medium sized companies is not that of the balance sheet but of the people that are so crucial to our joint success. 

Now is not an easy time to be an investor in any asset class. Both inflationary pressures and the continuing impact of the Russo-Ukrainian war are affecting all markets and leading to a much more cautious approach to investing, which is reflected in the way we are choosing to deploy capital from Kartesia’s range of strategies since 2013. However, first and foremost, we would like to once again extend our heartfelt sympathy to the people of Ukraine and hope for a rapid end to the conflict.  

Despite the mass rollout of vaccinations against the coronavirus, 2021 has continued to be a year of uncertainty, with new variants and question marks over vaccine efficacy leading to a seemingly continual tightening and loosening of restrictions worldwide. International travel has been disrupted, domestic political agendas are being rewritten but, above all, the lifeblood of Europe’s economies, its small and medium-sized businesses, are having to adapt their business models (in some cases significantly) in order to survive the pandemic and give themselves the room to thrive in its aftermath.

In our last newsletter we focused on the immediate aftermath of the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and how Kartesia’s flexible approach meant we were able to first address the challenges faced by our portfolio companies by providing additional liquidity and then to continue deploying capital from our KSO and KCO funds.

Dear Limited Partners, dear Friends Kartesia just celebrated its first anniversary. Much has been accomplished in such a short timeframe and yet a lot more is still to be achieved. In this context, the team thought it was a good time to launch “Insight Kartesia”, our bi-annual newsletter.