(Reuters) October 18, 2010 – Kinea, the investment arm of Itau Unibanco, is preparing to launch a private equity fund of up to US$500M with the strategy of buying minority stakes in medium-sized companies in segments such as retail, education and health.

Kinea is interested in sectors that would benefit from improved infrastructure, some of which would exhibit double-digit growth a year.

Before, launching the fund, Kinea should be announcing the purchase of a share in a midsize company for about R$200M, indicating the size of deals Kinea hopes to make.

By Aluísio Alves

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