2025 CEO Letter from the CIOs of East Capital and East Capital Group

This is the 2025 annual letter to the CEOs of the companies in East Capital’s portfolios, written by East Capital’s Chief Investment Officer, Jacob Grapengiesser and East Capital Group’s Chief Investment Officer, Peter Elam Håkansson. Each year, we share this letter with the leadership of our portfolio companies to highlight long-term perspectives, key themes and expectations. The letter reflects the major developments shaping emerging and frontier markets today.

Dear CEO,

We are reaching out to you as shareholders in your company. Since our start in 1997, we have worked for positive change through active and engaged ownership. Over the past 28 years we have prioritised meaningful dialogue and long-term collaboration with our portfolio companies to create lasting value.

East Capital Awards

Every year during our anniversary month of November, we honour companies in our investment universe with the East Capital Awards to celebrate outstanding achievements and contributions. This year, our anniversary coincides with the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, a moment that reshaped the world and underscored the power of cooperation, resilience and rebuilding for a better future. In that same spirit, we are delighted to recognise this year’s winners for 2025: Best IPO – Diagnostyka, Best Growth – Fawry, Best Corporate Governance – Laureate Education, and Discovery of the Year – Inter&Co.

Key Themes for the year: temperature check, empowerment, opportunities

The past year has again reminded us of the urgency of the climate challenges and related consequences. 2025 is on track to be one of the hottest years in history (again), with unprecedented floods, droughts and wildfires disrupting economies and communities around the globe. Climate adaptation has become and will remain a key priority.  

2025 is also the year where we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Paris agreement and there are 5 years left to reach the 2030 Agenda and the 17 sustainable development goals. The current status is clearly not where we had hoped we would be and there seem to be more headwinds than tailwinds. However, this only reinforces the case for each one of us, in our capacity as business leaders and investors, to accelerate our efforts. All East Capital strategies have either sustainability as an objective or promote environmental and social characteristics. We are truly impressed by the hard work all our portfolio holdings do to increase shareholder value while contributing to a more sustainable world.  

Beyond climate, policymakers are stepping up on security, biodiversity and digital resilience. Meanwhile, renewed trade tensions and geopolitical frictions are testing global supply chains, while a changing rate environment and rapid AI-driven innovation are reshaping business and investment opportunities.

Our ask

Our ask is simple: that we continue our dialogue on how your company can best navigate these shifts, strengthening its climate transition planning, protecting nature and biodiversity where relevant, and building the digital and operational resilience required to thrive in a fast-changing world. We value openness and collaboration and we look forward to continuing our discussions in that spirit as we enter into 2026.