Aureos Invests in Mexican Leasing
05/23/2008
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United States
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Transportation |
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Aureos Latin America Fund invests in Mexican leasing company
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May 23, 2008 - Aureos Latin America Fund (ALAF) has invested US$ 5 million in the Mexican transportation equipment leasing company Analistas de Recursos Globales, S.A. de C.V. (ARG)
[1], to take a controlling stake in the company. ALAF is an initiative of Aureos Capital, one of the leading private equity fund management companies specializing in investing in small to mid-cap businesses in emerging markets.
ARG provides operating leases of transportation equipment like automobiles, trailers and specialized vehicles and provides fleet management services for companies. It focuses on small and medium-sized Mexican companies that find it difficult to obtain leasing contracts through commercial banks. ARG started operations in 2001.
Juan Garibay, founder and CEO of ARG, says: “We believe that this is a high growth market. We plan to continue to build a very healthy and commercially viable portfolio of leases in the vehicle and fleet management services for mid sized companies. Our strategy is geared towards offering our clients products tailored to their needs – it is the kind of level of service that SMEs in this market have not always been used to. We think ARG presents a favourable balance of risk and return and we will be looking at ways of maximising returns by reviewing the growth opportunities that exist in the middle market.”
Felipe Ortiz-Monasterio, an Aureos Mexico Partner, comments: “The Mexican leasing market is still very underdeveloped, leaving many mid-sized companies without access to the kind of low risk funding they need to expand their businesses – it is a large gap in the market.”
Erik Peterson, Aureos Regional Managing Partner, adds: “We see opportunities in niche financial sectors across the Latin America region, and see our relationship with Juan, and our investment in ARG as a cornerstone to additional investments in this sector.”
ALAF is in the process of finalizing its second closing towards its target of US$ 300 million. It is the largest fund ever raised by Aureos Capital and it invests in SMEs in Central America, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. ARG is the second deal closed by ALAF since its inception in December 2007.