The Aureos Colombia Fund has teamed up with Arrendadora ARG, an Aureos investee company, to invest in the MBO of Colombian vehicle and machinery rental company Rentandes.
The Aureos Colombia Fund has teamed up with Arrendadora ARG, an Aureos investee company, to invest in the MBO of Colombian vehicle and machinery rental company Rentandes.
The Aureos Colombia Fund is an initiative of Aureos Capital, a private equity fund management company specialising in investing in small to mid-cap businesses in emerging markets.
The transaction comes less than a month after Aureos raised USD35.8m for the Aureos Colombia Fund from local pension funds and insurance companies.
The Aureos Colombia Fund will co-invest with the Aureos Latin America Fund which already has USD140m in commitments to be invested in Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Peru.
Rentandes was founded in 2000 and specialises in renting and fleet management services of automobiles, trucks and construction machinery to leading companies in Colombia.
Daniel Wasserman of Aureos Colombia Advisers says: ‘Rentandes is an extremely well-managed and fast growing company. At a time when the economic outlook has deteriorated, this sector is one with a very promising future. As funds available for mid-size companies become less abundant, many companies will prefer to enter into long-term rental contracts as opposed to tying up their capital in assets.’
The proceeds from the funds’ investment in Rentandes will be used by the company to strengthen its balance sheet, expand its fleet of vehicles, gain access to larger contracts and fuel future growth.
Erik Peterson, regional managing partner for Aureos’ Latin American operations, says: ‘We view Rentandes as a core addition to our portfolio in the fleet management space. Aureos invested in another Mexican company in the same sector earlier this year and we are confident that both management teams and Aureos can work together to improve the operations of both companies and identify other regional investment opportunities.’
Aureos Latin America Fund will be targeting investment opportunities in sectors such as consumer goods, financial institutions, services, logistics/transportation, homebuilding, private education, tourism and high value added manufacturing and agri-business.
Domiciled in Mauritius, Aureos Capital was formed in July 2001 to assume management of a range of funds originally sponsored by CDC Group and to raise and manage a new generation of private equity funds providing expansion and buyout capital to unlisted mid-cap businesses in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
