(Aureos Capital) July 12, 2012 – The Aureos Latin America Fund (ALAF) announced that it has acquired a significant stake in the Peruvian restaurant business, Acurio Restaurantes. This investment is ALAF’s twelfth investment in Latin America and its third in Peru. ALAF is managed by a subsidiary of Aureos Capital, a leading small and mid-cap private equity fund manager specializing in global growth markets.

Acurio Restaurantes operates a range of popular restaurants in the Peruvian cuisine segment of the market. Since its establishment in 1994, the group has launched 32 casual and fine-dining restaurants around the world, with 19 in major cities outside of Peru, including New York, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and Santiago.

Acurio Restaurantes include Tanta, one of the most popular family-oriented restaurant chains in Peru, La Mar, a Peruvian fine dining seafood chain and Astrid y Gastón, which is ranked in the ‘San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ in 2011. The group, originally founded by internationally renowned chef Gastón Acurio, is now operated by a professional management team, supported by a team of executive chefs.

Hector Martinez, Partner and Head of Aureos’ operations in Peru, comments: “Peru’s gastronomy industry is a fast-growing sector both locally and internationally. We are seeing a growing trend in markets outside of Latin America for the consumption of Peruvian cuisine which plays into our value creation strategy of growing Acurio Restaurantes footprint in these lucrative markets”.

Erik Peterson, Aureos´ Senior Partner for Latin America adds “Our team on the ground identified Acurio Restaurantes as a standout candidate for investment. The group is the recognized leader in the Peruvian cuisine space, and provides the markets of Latin America, North America and Europe with high-quality, differentiated concepts in Peruvian cuisine. Moreover, the group has a highly successful business model, which has proven, through profitable growth, to be scalable. We look forward to working closely with the management team moving forward to grow the business”.

Gaston Acurio, Founder of Acurio Restaurantes comments: “We are delighted to welcome Aureos as a shareholder in our company. We look forward to working with such a high profile international investor and leveraging Aureos’ global presence to grow our business in existing markets and expand it into new ones, fulfilling our vision to introduce Peruvian cuisine to the world”.

AUREOS CAPITAL LIMITED
Aureos Capital is a private equity fund management company which specialises in providing expansion and buy-out capital to small and mid-cap businesses across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Since its establishment in 2001, Aureos has increased its funds under management to US$ 1.3 billion and extended its geographical footprint to over 50 emerging markets covering Asia, Africa and Latin America, by establishing 17 regional private equity funds.

Aureos’ funds are managed through its network of more than 20 offices worldwide, by a team of over 90 investment professionals who combine world-class financial and operational expertise with unrivalled local knowledge and experience.

Investors in Aureos funds include institutional investors, bilateral and multilateral development finance institutions, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, fund of funds, family offices and foundations and high net worth individuals.

Aureos is to be acquired by Abraaj Capital in July 2012. With the completion of the acquisition, the Abraaj Group, including Aureos, will have a presence in more than 30 countries across growth markets, over 150 investments managed by a dedicated team of investment professionals and approximately US$ 7.5 billion in assets under management.