Aureos South Asia Fund LLC (ASAsiaF) has invested USD 4.75 million for a 25 per cent stake in Sunshine Holdings PLC.
Aureos South Asia Fund LLC (ASAsiaF) has invested USD 4.75 million for a 25 per cent stake in Sunshine Holdings PLC. ASAsiaF was established by Aureos Capital Limited, one of the leading private equity fund management companies specialising in investing in small to mid-cap businesses in emerging markets.
Founded in 1967, Sunshine Group is an emerging conglomerate in Sri Lanka. The Sunshine Group has businesses in plantations, branded teas, distribution of pharmaceutical and related products and metal packaging solutions for food and beverages. In the financial year ended March 2008, the group revenue was USD 68 million.
Sunshine Group aims to use the additional capital provided by ASAsiaF to increase its investment in a telecommunications joint venture with the Tata Group and to expand its packaging business.
Sunshine Group is listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange and the Aureos South Asia Fund’s investment was executed through a private placement of shares.
Nissanka Weerasekera, Aureos Regional Managing Partner in Sri Lank, says, ‘We were impressed by Sunshine’s long and successful presence in Sri Lanka and its solid financial performance. The management team is very strong and has put together strategic alliances that have placed Sunshine in a very good position from which to pursue further growth. We look forward to working together to help Sunshine expand its operations and firmly establish the company as a regional powerhouse.’
Vish Govindasamy, Managing Director of Sunshine Holdings, says, ‘We are very pleased to be teaming up with Aureos. We believe their investment will fast-track the growth plans of our group companies and allow us to enter into markets in which we currently do not have representation.’
In addition to the investment in Sunshine Group, Aureos has also acquired a 5 per cent stake in Watawala Plantations PLC (‘Watawala’) – a Sunshine Group company for USD 0.9 million. Watawala is a leading Sri Lankan plantation company and is also listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange.
Watawala is majority owned and managed by a joint venture company owned by Sunshine Group and Tata Group of India. Watawala is a leading producer of tea, rubber and palm oil. It has diversified its core plantation business focus to include retailing and exporting of branded teas, and cultivation of fruits for export market. For the year ended 31 March 2007, Watawala made a net profit of USD 3.8 million.
Aureos Capital Ltd is a private equity fund management company, domiciled in Mauritius, which specialises in providing expansion and buy-out capital to unlisted mid-cap businesses across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
It was formed in July 2001 to assume management of a range of funds originally sponsored by CDC Group plc and to raise and manage a new generation of private equity funds under the Aureos brand.
Today, the Shareholders in Aureos comprise employees, along with CDC Group plc, Norfund and FMO which are, respectively, the British, Norwegian and Dutch development finance institutions.
Since 2001, Aureos states it ‘has increased its funds under management to over USD 710 million and extended its geographical footprint to over 50 emerging markets covering Asia, Africa and Latin America, by establishing 14 regional private equity funds’.
Investors in Aureos funds include institutional investors, bilateral and multilateral development finance institutions, fund of funds, family offices and foundations and high net worth individuals.
Aureos is in the process of raising funds for the USD 100 million Aureos Central Asia Fund, the USD 300 million Aureos Latin America Fund and the USD 400 million Aureos Africa Fund.
