MIRA trains sights on Central/Eastern Europe with new hire

Macquarie Infrastructure & Real Assets will be targeting the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland more closely, beginning with the appointment of Martin Gebauer to the newly-created role of managing director and head of Central and Eastern Europe.

“Martin’s appointment represents an exciting opportunity to deepen our commitment to this dynamic region, which is home to some of the fastest growing economies in Europe,” Leigh Harrison, head of MIRA EMEA, said in a statement.

Gebauer joins the fund manager from Ĉeské Radiokomunikace (CRA), a Czech media and telecommunications company where he worked for eight years, first, as chief financial officer and later as chief executive. He will be based in Prague and will report to Jiri Zrust, MIRA’s head of country coverage and origination Europe.

“Under Mr. Gebauer’s leadership, CRA has evolved from a traditional broadcasting and telecommunications infrastructure owner and operator into a technology leader with a rapidly growing presence in innovative data centres, cloud services and network solutions,” according to the statement.

Asked whether Gebauer was selected because of his telecoms experience, MIRA declined to comment beyond the statement.

Gebauer will manage stakeholder engagement, asset management and deal origination across all infrastructure sub-sectors in the region, with an initial focus on telecommunications.

CRA has been a MIRA portfolio company since 2010, when the fund manager acquired 100 percent of CRA’s shares through Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 2, MEIF3 and the Macquarie Mercer Infrastructure Trust, an unlisted, separate managed account.