Capital Raising in the Western Balkans: Five Deals That Close

Capital raising Western Balkans transactions succeed when sponsors treat political risk as a structuring variable rather than a barrier. This blog analyzes five Delphos transactions across Kosovo, Ukraine, Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria between 2005 and 2023, each built on a distinct de-risking instrument. The progression from an OPIC loan guarantee to a private placement structure is evidence for a single argument: instrument selection, not market conditions, determines whether a deal closes. It is written for energy and infrastructure sponsors evaluating capital raises in this market.

A de-risking instrument is a financial tool, including a loan guarantee, political risk insurance, an EU grant, a blended facility, or a private placement structure, that absorbs or prices political, currency, or execution risk so institutional capital can deploy where it would not otherwise flow without mitigation.

Why Capital Is Flowing Into the Western Balkans Now

Capital reaches financial close in the Western Balkans when the risk profile is matched to the right de-risking tool, and three forces now make that matching exercise worth running. The EIB Group invested EUR€822MM in loans, guarantees, and grants across the region in 2025, mobilizing close to EUR€1.5B in total new investment. Near-shoring momentum and EU accession trajectories supply the demand. Active DFC and WBIF deployment supplies the capital. Availability is not the constraint. Structuring readiness is.

The macro backdrop reinforces the window. Regional GDP growth slowed to 2.6% in 2025 but is forecast to recover to 2.9% in 2026 and reach 3.5% in 2027, supported by public investment and infrastructure projects. Trade ties have deepened in parallel: EU-Western Balkans goods trade reached EUR€83B in 2024, a 123% increase over the decade. Foreign direct investment has followed, averaging 6.4% of GDP between 2020 and 2023, quadruple the EU average of 1.5%.

Infrastructure remains the binding need. Regional infrastructure development sits roughly 50% below the EU average, a gap that constrains integration into global value chains. As the Western Balkan partners deepen their alignment with the European Union, the capital window and the asset now point in the same direction. The open question is which de-risking tool carries a transaction to close for a sponsor with a live project here.

The Near-Shoring Shift: Why European Companies Are Sourcing Closer to Home

European supply chains are reorganizing around resilience rather than cost. The reshoring evidence is concrete: near-shoring is now confirmed in five of six Western Balkan economies, with 11% of surveyed foreign firms reporting they had relocated production closer to the EU. That relocation generates structured demand for the airports, energy assets, and logistics infrastructure the corridor still lacks. Sponsors weighing this shift can review companion analysis on energy transition and infrastructure investment in the Balkans to map where the opportunity concentrates.

EU Accession and the Capital Window: What Albania and Kosovo’s Timeline Means for Sponsors

Accession progress is the clearest re-rating signal. Capital raising in the Western Balkans responds directly to that signal, as accession progress lowers the sovereign risk premium that determines instrument selection. Albania opened all 33 EU negotiating chapters by November 2025 in 13 months, with Brussels assessing its 2027 membership target as ambitious but on track. Kosovo follows a parallel trajectory, and EU enlargement negotiations across both markets compress the perceived sovereign risk premium step by step, which widens the range of financing structures a sponsor can deploy. The window is defined rather than open-ended, so sponsors entering this corridor in 2026 should understand what investors require before the accession re-rating narrows the entry point. Favorable conditions still leave one variable unresolved: which specific instrument carries a given transaction to close.

Beyond capital market implications, the accession process also carries broader economic significance for the European neighbourhood. Ongoing enlargement negotiations and country-specific reform agendas are designed to improve market access, strengthen institutions, and deliver tangible benefits for businesses and citizens. Infrastructure developers, public utilities, and private sponsors are among the principal beneficiaries of these efforts, while investors continue to monitor policy requests and implementation milestones that influence long-term bankability and capital deployment.

The Financing Structures That Close Deals in Geopolitically Complex Markets

Four de-risking tools structure capital raising in the Western Balkans, each addressing a different risk type. DFC and OPIC guarantees absorb political and commercial risk on the debt side. MIGA political risk insurance (PRI) covers expropriation, war, and currency transfer risk for equity and lenders. EU grants reduce first-loss exposure and validate project priority. Private placement notes become available once prior facilities have established a market track record. Instrument selection, not market conditions, determines closing.

Grant capital anchors the early stack. The EU Reform and Growth Facility provides up to EUR€6B for 2024 to 2027, split between EUR€2B in grants and EUR€4B in concessional loans, with at least 37% dedicated to climate objectives through the WBIF. The EU Growth Plan commits this capital to support Western Balkan economies and their socioeconomic convergence with the European Union. Guarantee capacity has expanded alongside it. MIGA issued a record US$9.5B in new guarantees across 44 projects in fiscal 2025, with the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform adding US$12.3B in its first year.

“We have structured deals in this corridor across two decades. Each one reached financial close on the same discipline: matching the right instrument to the specific risk profile before approaching capital.” – Bart Turtelboom, Chairman & CEO of Delphos.

The Ukraine market shows the tools compounding. DFC’s total Ukraine portfolio reached US$1.6B, with US$848MM deployed since the full-scale invasion, combining PRI, war risk reinsurance, and loan portfolio coverage. The proven existence of these tools raises a sharper question: have they actually worked across these specific geographies?

DFC Guarantees vs. MIGA Political Risk Insurance: Which Instrument Fits Which Risk Profile?

The two tools solve adjacent problems. DFC guarantees backstop lenders against political and commercial risk on specific loan facilities, and DFC can also lend senior debt directly. MIGA PRI protects equity investors and lenders against non-commercial risks and operates as a coverage-only mandate. A single stack can carry both. The institutions have formalized this overlap: The two agencies established a joint consultative group on PRI for Ukraine, with the US agency holding more than US$800MM in total exposure. Sponsors preparing for this engagement can reference the requirements for bankable pipelines before structuring their approach.

How the EU Grants and Private Placement Notes Enter the Stack as Markets Mature

Grants and private notes sit at opposite ends of the maturity curve. Grants enter first, reducing first-loss exposure and signaling project priority to later lenders. The institutional note structure enters last, once a track record of completed deals has repriced the market enough for institutional capital to deploy without public cover. The macro environment shapes which tool leads: inflation across the EBRD regions reached 6.4% on average by April 2026, an energy shock that lengthens the case for grant and coverage support. The broader landscape of geopolitical risk and trade risks in 2026 shapes which tools fit each deal. The instruments are proven in theory. The deal record across 20 years shows whether they work.

Five Transactions Across Kosovo, Ukraine, Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria: The Structuring Record

The table below maps capital raising in the Western Balkans across five transactions by year, country, sector, amount, financing structure, and primary lender, tracing the progression from public guarantee to institutional notes that defines the corridor today.

2005 to 2006: When Public Backstops Were the Only Path In

The earliest deals relied on public backing because nothing else could price the risk. Triangle General Contractors (Kosovo, US$5.5MM) originated and negotiated a DFC loan guarantee for the first private energy deal in Kosovo, financing rehabilitation of the Kozhner Hydropower Facility. AES Maritza East 1 (Bulgaria, US$1.3B) used MIGA political risk insurance on a greenfield power project, with the PPA and lignite supply agreements restructured alongside EBRD and multilateral co-lenders.

2017 to 2019: Institutional Capital Enters as Structures Mature

The middle period shows public facilities extending into harder markets. AP Bank (Ukraine, US$10MM) structured an OPIC commitment to support working capital lending to SME farmers, demonstrating DFI deployment in Ukraine before the full-scale invasion. Transgaz S.A. (Romania, EUR€179MM) provided financial and economic feasibility advisory on two pipeline expansions, supporting an EU grant from the European Commission for energy security infrastructure.

2023 to 2025: Private Capital Leads as the Market Re-Rates

The recent deals confirm the repricing. ONEX Elefsis Shipyards (Greece, US$125MM) structured a DFC senior secured debt facility for a strategic shipyard supporting LNG servicing and European energy security. These six transactions are part of a broader transaction record spanning 100+ countries and more than US$20B mobilized since 1987.

Structure Your Next Western Balkans Capital Raise With Delphos

Identify which de-risking instrument fits your transaction’s risk profile before approaching capital. Delphos has structured DFC guarantees, MIGA political risk insurance, EU grant facilities, and private placement notes across this market for 20 years, through Capital Raising and Transaction Advisory mandates with developers and operators across Kosovo, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Greece.

Contact Delphos to structure the capital stack for your next capital raise →