Carlyle has US$ 1.5 billion to invest in business in South America
Valor Econômico
The acquisition of the CVC travel operator by Carlyle marks only the beginning of a series of deals the manager of private equity funds will carry out in Brazil. With more than US$ 85 billion in assets in the world, Carlyle intends to invest between US$ 1 billion and US$ 1.5 billion in nearly ten South American companies over the next five years. And most of these funds will be intended for Brazil.
"It completely made sense to invest in Brazil. It is the emerging that countries that offer opportunities for the private equity industry now and we were in China for 12 years. Why not bring resources here?", says Fernando Borges, Officer of Carlyle for South America.
After making a R$ 700 million (US$ 407 million) disbursement in CVC, Borges and a team of six people are seeking companies with business associated to consumption, in the areas of retail, education and financial services in Brazil. "These are the sectors that will benefit the most from the improvement of the income of the Brazilians within the coming years", says the Executive who has already ordered the investments the funds of AIG Capital made in Brazil, as in the airline company Gol.
These investments in the sector of consumption shall be made through the Carlyle South America Buyout Fund I recently created only to make acquisitions in Brazil and in neighbor countries. However, according to Daniel Sterenberg, Vice President of Carlyle in Brazil, that does not prevent other funds from investing in Brazil. At CVC, for example, the investment was made in conjunction with Carlyle Partners V, main fund manager, with US$ 13.5 billion in assets. Besides, it has not been ruled out the coming of funds related to logistics and infrastructure, areas that arouse the interest of Carlyle in the country.
If the means of investment may vary, the same cannot be said of the portion the funds will acquire in the companies. Borges says the manager will always seek to take control of the businesses, maintaining the standard of the acquisitions made in the world. In the case of CVC, both the funds got 63.6% of the company.