Eastern Europe will be the “China of Europe” for decades to come

 

In 2005, ARALON AG was founded in Switzerland, near Zurich. The firm’s mission: to use the insight of a team of highly capable professionals to generate extraordinary returns across a broad range of investment opportunities in Eastern European countries, and in the process contribute to fostering greater European integration.

Thus, the company motto . . . ARALON – Growing Europe!

According to a leading Austrian bank, Raiffeisen International, Europe’s growth for the next 50 to 100 years will come from Eastern Europe. The market is sizeable, with more than 320 million inhabitants, a highly qualified workforce, and productive yet cheap labour. The communist legacy means there is a readiness to catch up to Western lifestyles, combined with already established centres of excellence based on a countries’ strength during COMECON times. Eastern European countries have the added advantage of dual export markets – both to EU15 and former Soviet bloc countries. All these factors point to this region becoming the new powerhouse of Europe. 

For us, Eastern Europe by far exceeds the political borders of the European Union, stretching out even beyond the Ural Mountains. ARALON invests all over Eastern Europe – from the Baltics to Hungary, and from South East Europe, including the countries of the former Yugoslavia, at one end, to Russia and Russian-speaking countries such as Ukraine and Belarus at the other. Beyond that, the Caucasian Region and selected countries of the former Soviet Union (Commonwealth of Independent States) are also within the geographic spread of our investments. All these countries are characterised by enormous growth rates and a high domestic demand for anything from dairy to modern housing. 

Within Eastern Europe proper, we specialize in those countries bordering the Black Sea Region (BSR):

  • The EU member Romania
  • The EU member Bulgaria
  • Ukraine in the north
  • Turkey in the south

These BSR countries encompass a population of almost 150 million and themselves form an economic area with formidable growth prospects.