Key Takeaways from the Austria & CEE Private Equity Breakfast, in Vienna
April 2026
Pedersen & Partners and CMS co-hosted the Austria & CEE Private Equity Breakfast, in Vienna.
The event brought together representatives from local and international private equity and venture capital firms for discussions and networking around the latest Austria & CEE private equity market trends and strategic insights.
The panel discussion was moderated by Poul Pedersen, Executive Chairman, Pedersen & Partners, and Alexander Rakosi, Partner, Head of Private Equity, CMS Vienna.
Panelists included:
- Igor Cicak - Managing Partner & CEO, Provectus Capital Partners
- Nina Dorhau - Managing Director, aws Fondsmanagement
- Christoph Hikes - Board Member & CFO, Invest AG
- Franz Hörhager - Founding Partner & Chairman, Accession Capital Partners
- Andreas Kinsky - Partner M&A, Pava
- Marko Maschek - Partner, Marondo Capital
- Matteo Thun - Partner, EQT
Katharina Kaiser, Country Manager for Austria at Pedersen & Partners, highlighted the following takeaways:
- The exit volumes and Distributed to Paid-In Capital (DPI) values are below historic levels across the DACH and CEE regions, making fund raising more difficult. On a positive note, there is increasing interest from investors from Asia and Middle East.
- Value Creation has become the primary driver of returns as the benefits of leverage and multiple expansion have reduced.
- Among the many external factors, AI was highlighted. AI has tangible impact on both deal making and portfolio firms.
- The defense sector was highlighted as interesting while investors are cautious toward automotive and software sectors
- Matteo Thun from EQT highlighted the rationale behind EQT’s recent takeover of Coller Capital and the benefits of scale in value creation and fundraising.
We thank all speakers and participants who joined and contributed to the exchange.