(Press Release) On August 14, 2014, the initial closing of US$28.75m was completed for CASEIF III L.P., a Private Equity Fund with a total fund size target of US$50m aimed to invest in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Central America, the Dominican Republic and Colombia.

CASEIF III L.P. is formed with the initial commitment of institutional and private investors of Europe and America, including the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries, NORFUND; the Andean Development Corporation, CAF; Impact Investing Focus SME L.P. and SIFEM AG, both of them through their manager OBVIAM AG; Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden N.V. (FMO); and LAFISE Group. All of the investors share the mission to promote development in the region by means of investing in profitable private businesses and projects.

“We, the investors, are convinced that the region has great possibilities to reduce dramatically the poverty levels, and that with this support, the SMEs will become stronger and will increase the employment sources, which we consider is the best tool to fight poverty”, said Mr. Roberto Zamora, President of LAFISE Group, in reference to the envisaged impact of CASEIF III L.P.

The manager of CASEIF III L.P. is Lafise Investment Management (LIM), a company from the LAFISE Group that has managed two preceding funds (CASEIF I & II), and executed to date more than 25 investments in six countries across different industrial sectors such as food processing, software, logistics, education, tourism, manufacturing, renewable energy, etc.

CASEIF III L.P. will invest between US$1 to US$5 million in profitably operating SMEs facing a substantial growth stage and where CASEIF III L.P. will have high potential to support and generate important value added for the company. The Fund will invest primarily in quasi-equity instruments. The potential investment target companies must have strong management teams and be willing to accept CASEIF III L.P. as a new investor with assigned board seats on their company´s Board of Directors for the representatives of the Fund.