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News From EMPEA Emerging Markets Private Equity Funds Raise over US$20 Billion in the First Six Months of 2007 Outlook for 2007: Record-Breaking Totals for EM Fundraising Industry News "Middle East Attracts Western Funds" (Middle East) "Africa, the New Money Frontier" (Africa) "Private Equity Executives Say Deal-Making Will Push On" (Industry News) "Apax Explores Sale of Stake to Asian or Mideast Sovereign Fund" (Industry News) "Kuwait's Agility in US$250 Million Iraq Telecom Option" (Middle East) "Parag Saxena to Raise US$1.5 Billion for Asia Fund With India Focus" (Asia) "Alta Capital Poised to Take Over Kalev Chocolate" (Central and Eastern Europe and Russia) "Tribeca Picks Up 49 Percent of Etiqueta Negra" (Latin America and the Caribbean) "Citigroup's Purchase of Boyner Stake Approved" (Middle East) "DRB-HICOM Gets Nod to Start Talks on EONCap Stake Sale" (Asia) "ADIC Signs Private Equity Pact With Tuninvest" (Africa) "San Miguel to Team Up With TPG, Tenaga in Bid for Power Grid" (Asia)
News From EMPEA
Emerging Markets Private Equity Funds Raise over US$20 Billion in the First Six Months of 2007 Outlook for 2007: Record-Breaking Totals for EM Fundraising
Washington, D.C., September 19, 2007- 107 private equity funds focused
Industry News "Middle East Attracts Western Funds" (Middle East) International Herald Tribune (09/27/07) P. 1; Sorkin, Andrew Ross As money from the Middle East flows westward, private equity firms in the West are eyeing buyout deals in the Middle East. According to Zawya Private Equity Monitor, the value of private equity funds dedicated to the Middle East and North Africa increased from $316 million to $5.2 billion between 2004 and 2006, much of it propelled by U.S. pension funds. Carlyle Group is now raising a $1 billion fund for acquisitions in countries like Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and other pension funds plan to invest in Carlyle's Middle East Fund. New York-based private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings has already acquired a $200 million controlling stake in Egypt's largest bank, while earlier this year property buyout firm Colony Capital acquired a controlling stake in Libya's biggest oil company, Tamoil. CalPERS is an investor in both Ripplewood and Colony. Abraaj Capital CEO Arif Naqvi notes that the shake-up in regional investments following 9/11 made many local private equity firms realize that there were a lot of opportunities regionally. Return to Headlines "Africa, the New Money Frontier" (Africa) Mail & Guardian Online (09/26/07) Fisher-French, Maya Since 1995, at least one African equity market has ranked among the top ten worldwide. Growing political and economic stability on the continent has resulted in a 5.8 percent increase in GDP this year. Foreign investment inflows have tripled over the past decade from US$10 billion to US$30 billion a year. All of this has caught the attention of private equity players, including Investec, which launched an Africa fund two years ago expecting to raise US$500 million to US$1 billion within five years. The US$500 million mark has already been reached, with a further $US250 million committed. Investec's Africa fund has its eye on Egyptian cellphone provider Orascom as well as Access Bank in Nigeria. Investec also has experience in Tunisia, Morocco, Kenya, and Mauritius. Return to Headlines "Private Equity Executives Say Deal-Making Will Push On" (Industry News) Financial Week (09/24/07) Vol. 2, No. 36, P. 1; Quinn, Matthew Private equity executives attending the recent Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst Conference in New York said that the stalled U.S. market has not translated into a slowdown in business, rather, funds are revamping their strategies to focus on new opportunities. Blackstone Group, for one, is increasingly focusing on investments in China, India, and Eastern Europe. In September, the private equity group announced its first deal in China, up to US$600 million for a 20 percent stake in chemical company China National Bluestar, a wholly owned subsidiary of ChemChina. The month prior, Blackstone announced a US$150 million investment in Nagarjuna Construction of India. Return to Headlines "Apax Explores Sale of Stake to Asian or Mideast Sovereign Fund" (Industry News) Financial Times (09/28/07) Tucker, Sundeep Following the examples of U.S. rivals Blackstone and Carlyle Group, European private equity firms are seeking partnerships with sovereign funds in a bid to break into new markets. U.K.-based Apax Partners, Europe's biggest buy-out group, is exploring the potential sale of an equity stake to a sovereign fund in Asia or the Middle East. Dealmakers in Asia are reporting heightened interest from European private equity firms in recent weeks, seeking to determine whether sovereign funds in countries like China and Singapore are ready to make further investments in private equity firms. In China, though, private equity firms will have to wait. Following its US$3 billion investment in Blackstone last May, the government made a commitment not to make a similar investment until at least May 2008. In September, Carlyle agreed to sell a 7.5 percent stake to the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the government’s investment arm. Return to Headlines "Kuwait's Agility in US$250 Million Iraq Telecom Option" (Middle East) Reuters (09/25/07) Laessing, Ulf Alcazar Capital, the private equity arm of Kuwaiti logistics provider Agility, has agreed in principle to acquire a $250 million stake in Iraq's Korek Telecom, though the terms of the deal have not been finalized. Agility established Alcazar this year as part of a strategy to reduce reliance on its core business, supplying U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Korek has 1.2 million customers, mostly in Iraq's northern Kurdish region. Return to Headlines "Parag Saxena to Raise US$1.5 Billion for Asia Fund With India Focus" (Asia) Economic Times of India (09/25/07) Sayed, Javed Venture capitalist Parag Saxena, an early investor in Starbucks, is raising a US$1.5 billion Asia fund with a special focus on India. Already, the New Silk Route Fund has raised US$1 billion and invested US$200 million in India since February. The additional US$500 million is expected to be raised by October. Approximately 70 percent of the fund will be invested in India, with a focus on the country's manufacturing, infrastructure, telecommunications/IT, consumer business, and financial services sectors. Return to Headlines "Alta Capital Poised to Take Over Kalev Chocolate" (Central and Eastern Europe and Russia) Baltic Times (09/26/07) Estonia-based venture capital firm Alta Capital Partners has announced its intent to acquire a controlling stake in several food-producing subsidiaries of AS Kalev, one of the Baltic's best known brand names, in a deal worth EUR56 million. The deal must be approved by competition authorities, which on Sept. 24 gave the go-ahead to Alta Capital's acquisition of an 80 percent stake in Rigas Piensaimnieks, Latvia's largest milk producer. Alta Capital has more than EUR380 million under management, with investments in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Return to Headlines "Tribeca Picks Up 49 Percent of Etiqueta Negra" (Latin America and the Caribbean) SABI Wire Service (09/25/07) Colombian private equity firm Tribeca Partners has acquired a 49 percent stake in Compania Argentina de Diseno, the parent of clothing brand Etiqueta Negra. Etiqueta has seven stores in Argentina and has plans to expand to the United States, Chile, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Holland, and Germany. Tribeca is Latin America's third largest private equity firm, behind GP Investimentos of Brazil and Southern Cross of Argentina. Return to Headlines "Citigroup's Purchase of Boyner Stake Approved" (Middle East) Turkish Daily News Online (09/26/07) Antitrust regulators in Turkey have approved Citigroup Venture Capital International's planned acquisition of a 30 percent stake in Turkish retailer Boyner Buyuk Magazacilik for US$48 million from clothing manufacturer Altinyildiz and its parent company Boyner Holding. Citigroup agreed to the terms of the deal in February. Return to Headlines "DRB-HICOM Gets Nod to Start Talks on EONCap Stake Sale" (Asia) New Straits Times (Malaysia) (09/27/07) P. 37 Bank Negara Malaysia has agreed "in principle" to start talks to sell its 20.2 percent stake in EON Capital to Hong Kong private equity firm Primus Pacific Partners. The stake was valued at RM973.2 million (US$285 million) based on the Sept. 26 market value of share prices. The government will have to approve any agreement. Return to Headlines "ADIC Signs Private Equity Pact With Tuninvest" (Africa) Gulf News (United Arab Emirates) (09/25/07) The Abu Dhabi Investment Company (ADIC) is partnering with Tuninvest Finance Group to target private equity opportunities in North Africa. ADIC hopes to capitalize on Tuninvest's regional expertise to "pursue more aggressively investment opportunities in the North Africa region." Under the agreement, Tuninvest will source investment opportunities through a local presence in each country. Return to Headlines "San Miguel to Team Up With TPG, Tenaga in Bid for Power Grid" (Asia) Inquirer.net (09/25/07) U.S. private equity firm Texas Pacific Group is teaming with San Miguel Corp., Southeast Asia's largest food and drinks group, and Malaysian power firm Tenaga Nasional Berhad to bid for a 25-year license to operate the Philippines national power grid, valued at US$3 billion. The Philippines is selling off dozens of power assets as part of reforms in the energy and economic sectors. It hopes to privatize 70 percent of state-owned generation plants by next year. Return to Headlines Abstract News © Copyright 2007 INFORMATION, INC. |
2 October 2007
Emerging Markets Private Equity NewsWatch provides a selection of noteworthy articles pertaining to private equity investing in emerging markets and is distributed weekly to a wide audience. The Emerging Markets Private Equity NewsWatch is a publication of the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association. For more information on EMPEA, please contact: To advertise, contact: Emerging Markets Private Equity Association  |