Baring Vostok Capital Partners

Baring Vostok Capital Partners origins date back to 1994 with the formation of the First NIS Regional Fund. The fund was a joint venture between Baring Asset Management and Sovlink, a Russian-American merchant bank. Baring Bank’s ties to Russia traced back several centuries and Barings was the primary international bank for the Russian Emperors.

The First NIS Regional Fund was originally managed by a team of investment professionals from Barings and Sovlink including current Baring Vostok senior partner Michael Calvey. With $160 million of investor commitments, the fund ultimately returned $620 million to investors over the life of the fund. In 1997, Baring Vostok Capital Partners, became an affiliate of Baring’s BPEP International. Following the collapse of Barings Bank, the ownership of BPEP International was assumed by the Dutch bank ING Group.

In 2001, the firm completed fundraising for the Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund. With $205 million of investor commitments, Baring Vostok’s was the first foreign private equity fund raised in the aftermath of the 1998 Russian financial crisis.

In May 2004, BPEP International completed a management buyout from ING Group, which resulted in Baring Vostok's partners purchasing ownership of its management company. At the same time, the firm's affiliates in Asia, India and Latin America completed similar buyouts of their respective firms. These companies subsequently continued their affiliation although each firm retained full ownership of their respective businesses. Following the buyout of the management company, in 2005, the Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund III was raised with total committed capital of $413 million.

In February 2007, the firm completed fundraising for its fourth private equity fund. Baring Vostok raised $1.1 billion of investor commitments for its main fund Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund IV. Together with a parallel fund, Baring Vostok Fund IV Supplemental Fund, which raised over $300 million of capital, Baring Vostok's fourth fund was at the time the largest private equity fund in Eastern Europe.

In October 2012, the Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund LP V was raised with total committed capital of $1.15 billion, which was, at the time, the largest amount raised for a deal of this kind in Russia.

On 2 September 2019, the Russian Commercial Court of the Amur Region, Russia, ordered the seizure of the 41.6% share of equity in Vostochny Bank controlled by Baring Vostok. The seizure was requested by Vostochny and, according to the court, it was necessary to prevent Baring Vostok selling shares in Vostochny before a court decision was reached in continuing litigation over alleged embezzlement by Baring Vostok executives.