Generali, the Italian insurer, has launched a new private equity venture targeting central and eastern Europe in partnership with PPF, the financial group created by Petr Kellner, one of the richest men in the region.

The venture, named PPF Partners, has already raised €615m ($869m) from Generali, Czech group PPF and Mr Kellner himself. It has spent half the money on six assets transferred from PPF and is poised to complete the €100m buy-out of J&T, a Slovakia-based energy group.