Private Equity In Central America

©image: Andrew Magill

Mark Bishop from The Provident Group explains that: "the problem with Central America was and remains, very fragmented economies, small markets and lack of experience with legal transparency –it makes putting capital in there just much more difficult– there is going to be a couple of selective opportunities but its still a difficult market to get your arms round...We thought there was going to be a lot more consolidation regionally".

The largest players in the industry is Aureos Capital, who manages over $200 million between three funds. "The majority of their investments are around the $5 million dollar mark and Erik Peterson Regional Managing Partner Aureos Latin America says they see greater regional integration as the key to their strategy 'we have a strong preference for companies that have the potential to become regional players. As you know there is a lot of cross border activity within the region, which is one of the reasons why we have selected this region. There are free trade agreements enacted with the US and within these regions. And so you have quite a flow of capital say between Colombia, the south end of Peru and north end of Central America and Mexico going south into the Central American region'".

The article by Alternative Latin Investor, published in the blog CheapMommy, lists other participants of the market, their expectations, and the challenges and opportunities for private equity in the region.

Source: Cheapmommy.com

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