Enterprise Investors returns to Lithuania with investment in Kredito unija "Saulėgrąža"

Vilnius, July 1, 2026 — Enterprise Investors Fund IX (EIF IX) has agreed to invest up to EUR 21.8 million to acquire a stake of up to 81.51% in Kredito unija "Saulėgrąža", a Lithuanian financial institution. The transaction marks the firm's fourth investment in the Baltics — and its second in Lithuania — and builds on Enterprise Investors' longstanding experience in the financial services sector. The capital will support Saulėgrąža's conversion into a fully licensed bank serving SMEs. The transaction remains subject to customary regulatory approvals.

Saulėgrąža has operated as a licensed Lithuanian credit union since 2012 under the supervision of the Bank of Lithuania, providing a broad range of banking services. The acquisition gives EIF IX a regulated platform from which to pursue a full banking license and complete the conversion. 

Once converted, the new bank will specialize in financing SMEs in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland, with ambitions to expand across the broader region. The plan addresses a structural funding gap in Central and Eastern Europe, where many SMEs and start-ups have long struggled to access competitively priced funding. The new institution is intended to help meet this demand. 

Enterprise Investors brings more than three decades of experience in banking and specialty finance across Poland and the region and has deployed around 15% of its capital to date in the sector. Notable investments include the Polish banks Pierwszy Polsko-Amerykański Bank, Opel Bank, and Lukas Bank; Kruk, one of Europe’s leading debt-management firms; and, more recently, specialty lenders PragmaGO and Vehis. 

We’ve spent three decades learning what it takes to build durable and fast-growing financial institutions in this region. The Baltics have been on our radar for a long time, and Saulėgrąža offers a compelling combination of an established, well-supervised platform and a clear path to becoming the kind of SME bank the market lacks, said Dariusz Prończuk, managing partner at Enterprise Investors, who specializes in financial services investments. 

I talk to SMEs and start-ups across the CEE region and hear the same thing: capital is available, but rarely on terms that match how these businesses actually grow. That’s why we’re backing Saulėgrąža’s transformation into a bank focused on the SME segment. This is just the beginning, added Jakub Kuberski, partner at Enterprise Investors responsible for the transaction. 

Enterprise Investors is one of the largest private equity players in Central and Eastern Europe. Active since 1990, the firm has raised ten funds, which have invested and committed EUR 2.5 billion in 164 companies and exited 143 companies.

For further information, please contact:
Anna Czywczyńska, Communications & Public Affairs Director
tel.: +48 22 458 8500
www.ei.com.pl