Latin American private equity firm GP Investments has announced the closing of its new private equity fund, GP Capital Partners IV, with USD1.3bn of committed capital.
Latin American private equity firm GP Investments has announced the closing of its new private equity fund, GP Capital Partners IV, with USD1.3bn of committed capital.
GP Investments is listed on the Brazilian and Luxembourg stock exchanges, having been one of the first private equity firms to go public in June 2006 when it raised raising more than USD300m. Since then the company’s share price has risen more than 200 per cent and its market capitalisation has reached USD1.5bn.
The closing of GP Capital Partners IV is the most recent in a series of developments at GP Investments as the firm has capitalised on favourable macro-economic conditions in Latin America to execute some of the region’s largest and most significant deals.
In August, the firm acquired Pride International’s Latin American Land Drilling and E&P Services Businesses, which operates in eight Latin American countries, for USD1bn, and took a controlling stake in Magnesita, a producer of refractory material for the steelmaking, cement and glass industries, for USD642m.
‘The fund has attracted widespread interest from institutional investors all around the globe,’ says Antonio Bonchristiano, co-chairman and co-chief executive of GP Investments. ‘This has enabled us to increase the size of the fund against our original estimates and is an encouraging sign of the strengthening status and reputation of GP and the region in the eyes of the global financial community.
‘We are now looking to continue our strategy of growth across Latin America as the market adapts to the phenomenon of debt financing and leveraged buyouts – which we are well placed to capitalise on. We have an excellent pipeline of new business and plans for further acquisitions in the near future.’
GP Investments’ core activity is private equity investment, where it aims to generate higher than average long-term returns to its investors and shareholders. The firm has more than 14 years’ experience of private equity investing in Latin America, has raised almost USD3bn from investors in Brazil, the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia, and acquired 42 companies in 11 sectors including real estate, telecommunications, logistics and retail.
Last year the firm led offers representing 12 per cent of all Brazilian equity offerings during the year, completing eight transactions totalling USD1.9bn in 2006 and nine transactions so far this year totalling to USD3bn.
GP Investments’ portfolio includes Equatorial Energia, an electricity distribution company serving the Brazilian state of Maranhão, Brazilian steakhouse operator Fogo de Chao, the country’s largest shopping mall owner Brmalls, Tempo, which provides services to the insurance industry, and BR Properties, an investor in commercial real estate.
