Aureos Capital, a private equity fund manager specialising in investing in small to mid-cap businesses in emerging markets, has announced that its Aureos Central Asia Fund has invested USD
Aureos Capital, a private equity fund manager specialising in investing in small to mid-cap businesses in emerging markets, has announced that its Aureos Central Asia Fund has invested USD10m in a controlling stake in the Kazakh equipment leasing company Leasing Group.
Founded in 2005, Leasing Group provides financial leases for various types of equipment such as transportation vehicles, construction and mining equipment and specialised manufacturing equipment. It focuses on small and medium-sized companies that find it difficult to obtain loans or leasing contracts through commercial banks.
The investment is the first for Aureos’ Central Asia Fund, one of the first regional private equity funds targeting investment of between USD2m and USD10m in small and mid-cap companies in the region.
‘We are delighted that Aureos decided to invest in our company,’ says Leasing Group chief executive Timur Taipov. ‘Over the past three years Leasing Group has built a successful company on very strong foundations. There is a growing market for our product in Kazakhstan and we plan to continue to grow our portfolio of offerings and respond to our clients’ needs.’
Talgat Kukenov, Aureos’s managing partner for Central Asia, says: ‘We are delighted to announce the first investment of the Aureos Central Asia Fund. In the current liquidity shortage, small and mid-sized companies have difficulty accessing bank loans in order to expand their businesses. Leasing provides these companies with a good alternative.
‘The Kazakh economy has been experiencing impressive growth, fuelled by the boom in the natural resources and energy sector. Support services for this sector, which include engineering, logistics and construction, are in great demand. We are confident that the market for Leasing Group is going to continue to grow over the coming years.
‘In addition, our acquisition of a controlling stake illustrates our belief in the company’s strength and potential. One of the aims of the Aureos Central Asia Fund is to help local businesses grow into strong regional companies, and we believe Leasing Group has that potential.’
Mauritius-domiciled Aureos Capital specialises in providing expansion and buy-out capital to unlisted mid-cap businesses in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It was formed in July 2001 to take over management of a range of funds originally sponsored by the UK’s state-owned CDC Group and to raise a new generation of private equity funds. The firm is owned by its employees and by CDC Group, Norfund and FMO, respectively the UK, Norwegian and Dutch development finance institutions.
Since 2001, Aureos has increased its funds under management to more than USD900m and extended its geographical footprint to more than 50 emerging markets through 16 regional private equity funds. Investors include institutions, bilateral and multilateral development finance institutions, fund of funds, family offices and foundations and high net worth individuals.
