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Headlines
Industry News "UK's Permira to Pay US$838 Million for Macao Casino Stake" (Asia) "KKR Agrees to Buy 97.6 Percent of Turkish Shipper UN Ro Ro for US$1.3 Billion" (Middle East) "Carlyle Buys Mexican Door-to-Door Sales Firm" (Latin America and the Caribbean) "Baltic States Join List of Fastest-Growing Economies" (Central and Eastern Europe and Russia) "Russia Enters the Race for Africa's Riches" (Africa) "Bharti to Shed 10 Percent in Infratel for US$1.1 Billion" (Asia) "Marambaia Energia Signs MOU on Ethanol Output, Transport" (Latin America and the Caribbean) "Actis Acquires 49 Percent Interest in LMKR Holdings" (Middle East) "Conduit Capital Announces Sale of Power Plant in Colombia" (Latin America and the Caribbean) "US Private Equity Firm Eyes Brazil, Colombia" (Latin America and the Caribbean) "Askembla Growth Fund to Buy 25.5 Percent of Kausta Guder" (Central and Eastern Europe and Russia) "AIG Raises Buyout Bid for Bulgarian Telco BTC by Over 5 Percent" (Central and Eastern Europe and Russia) Industry News "UK's Permira to Pay US$838 Million for Macao Casino Stake" (Asia) Reuters (10/11/07) U.K. private equity firm Permira will acquire a 20 percent stake in Hong Kong-based casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group, which operates a five-star casino/hotel resort in Macao. Macao has attracted billions of dollars in investments in recent years due to its status of being the only Chinese city where gambling is legal. Galaxy is developing another resort in Macao that is scheduled for opening next year. This will be Permira's first investment in the Asia-Pacific region. Return to Headlines "KKR Agrees to Buy 97.6 Percent of Turkish Shipper UN Ro Ro for US$1.3 Billion" (Middle East) Thomson Financial (10/09/07) New York-based buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) has reached an agreement to acquire a 97.6 percent stake in Turkish shipper UN Ro Ro Isletmeleri for US$1.3 billion, making it the largest private equity investment in Turkey. KKR says it believes that UN Ro Ro will play a vital role in future trade between Turkey and Europe. This is the first investment in Turkey for KKR. UN Ro Ro currently owns 9 vessels and has four more on order. The deal must be approved by regulators in Turkey, Italy, Austria, and Germany and is expected to close by year's end. Return to Headlines "Carlyle Buys Mexican Door-to-Door Sales Firm" (Latin America and the Caribbean) Washington Business Journal (10/09/07) Adler, Neil U.S. private equity firm The Carlyle Group has completed its acquisition of Mexican retailer of beauty and personal-care products Arabela from buyout firm Advent International and Procorp, a Mexican listed holding company that takes equity positions in Mexican companies. Arabela uses a biweekly catalog and a sales force of some 115,000 independent sales personnel to sell items door to door. Over the past year, the company has delivered more than 2.5 million orders totaling nearly 50 million items. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Return to Headlines "Baltic States Join List of Fastest-Growing Economies" (Central and Eastern Europe and Russia) Financial News (10/10/07) Corcoran, Jason Venture capital firm Draper Fisher's 100-fold return on an investment in Estonia-based Internet telephony provider Skype when Skype was sold to eBay in 2005 highlighted the Baltic region's potential for private equity firms. Private equity investment in the Baltics still remains the preserve of small domestic funds and mid-market regional firms. Mid Europa's EUR450 million acquisition of mobile operator Bite in February, for example, was the largest buyout in the Baltics and one of the largest in Central Europe. Mid Europa has raised more than EUR1 billion for buyouts in central Europe, while regional private equity firm BaltCap is raising a EUR100 million fund and Estonia-based Alta Capital is building a portfolio of regional companies in the Baltics and Poland, including a majority stake in Polish confectionary Mieszko and a Latvian construction company and biofuel developer. Opportunities in the region are starting to catch the eye of larger private equity firms as well. Blackstone is making its first investment in the Baltics with the planned acquisition of a 51 percent stake in Latvian IT and telecommunications company Lattelecom for US$178 million as part of a US$575 million management buyout. Carlyle has a new office in Warsaw, while AIG Global Investments is looking at central and eastern Europe for investments from a US$740 million New Europe Fund. Estonia and Latvia boast two of the fastest-growing economies in the world, with GDP last year increasing by 11.4 percent and 11.9 percent, respectively. Return to Headlines "Russia Enters the Race for Africa's Riches" (Africa) Newsweek (10/15/07) Vol. 150, No. 16, Matthews, Owen Russian buyout firm Renaissance Partners is restructuring to allow billions of dollars worth of private equity investments to pour into sub-Saharan Africa, where it already has a significant presence. Last year, Renaissance organized the biggest IPO ever in Africa, the US$350 million sale of stock in Nigeria's Access Bank. A new Africa fund launched by Renaissance in October is expected to raise US$1 billion by next spring. Return to Headlines "Bharti to Shed 10 Percent in Infratel for US$1.1 Billion" (Asia) Economic Times of India (10/08/07) Joseph, Anto T.; Unnikrishnan, Rajesh; Philip, Joji Thomas Bharti, India's largest private telecom company, has held talks with private equity firms Warburg Pincus of the United States and Temasek Holdings, Singapore government's investment arm, regarding the potential sale of a 10 percent stake in tower company Bharti Infratel for about US$1.1 billion. Bharti and the private equity firms it is in talks with are no strangers to one another. Earlier this year, Bharti gave Temasek Holdings the option of acquiring an indirect 4.99 percent stake Bharti Airtel. Warburg Pincus invested US$292 million in Bharti Tele-Ventures between 1999 and 2001. Warburg sold the stake for US$1.6 billion when it exited the investment in October 2005. Bharti currently has about 40,000 towers and is in the process of doubling that number by the end of fiscal 2008 under an ongoing US$3.5 billion expansion plan. The number of Bharti's subscribers has increased from 19.6 million in fiscal 2006 to over 50 million as of early October. Return to Headlines "Marambaia Energia Signs MOU on Ethanol Output, Transport" (Latin America and the Caribbean) TMCnet.com (10/09/07) Brazilian renewable energy company Marambaia Energia Renovvel has reached a preliminary agreement with private equity firm Green Capital Investimentos to raise funds for investments in ethanol production and distribution in Brazil. The two hope to raise a US$500 million fund under the agreement. Marambaia is currently in negotiations to acquire sugarcane mills in Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo and storage tanks in Rio de Janeiro. Return to Headlines "Actis Acquires 49 Percent Interest in LMKR Holdings" (Middle East) Post (Pakistan) (10/08/07) Private equity firm Actis has acquired a 49 percent stake in Pakistan-based LMK Resources (LMKR), a provider of information management solutions to petroleum engineering services companies around the globe. Actis, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets, has US$3.5 billion of funds under management and a significant presence in Africa and Asia. In addition to Pakistan, LMKR has offices in the United States, Malaysia, Trinidad, and Dubai. Return to Headlines "Conduit Capital Announces Sale of Power Plant in Colombia" (Latin America and the Caribbean) Business Wire (10/09/07) Conduit Capital Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm focused on the independent electric power and pipeline industries of Latin America and the Caribbean, has sold its 81.83 percent stake in Colombian coal power plant Termotasajero for US$173 million to a Chilean investment fund that has asked to remain anonymous and a group of Colombian private pension fund managers comprised of Protección, Porvenir, Skandia Colombia, and the Colombian unit of Citigroup. Conduit's Latin Power I and II funds have invested in Mexico, Chile, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Jamaica, Honduras, and Guatemala. The private equity firm is currently investing its US$393 million Latin Power III fund. Return to Headlines "US Private Equity Firm Eyes Brazil, Colombia" (Latin America and the Caribbean) Business News Americas (10/10/07) U.S. private equity firm Brysam Global Partners says it is seeking investment opportunities in the consumer financial services markets of Brazil and Colombia. The company says it is looking to invest between US$150 million and US$250 million in each country. The firm is also targeting Mexico, where is already holds a 27.9 percent stake in financial services group IXE and a 100 percent stake in an unnamed consumer finance company. Return to Headlines "Askembla Growth Fund to Buy 25.5 Percent of Kausta Guder" (Central and Eastern Europe and Russia) Baltic News Service (10/08/07) Askembla Growth Fund, the Baltics' largest private equity fund, is seeking regulatory approval to purchase a 25.5 percent stake in Kausta Guder, owner of several building machinery sale and rental centers in Lithuania and Latvia. Askembla currently holds stakes in Lithuanian information technology group Sonex and a golf course in Lithuania. Return to Headlines "AIG Raises Buyout Bid for Bulgarian Telco BTC by Over 5 Percent" (Central and Eastern Europe and Russia) SeeNews (10/11/07) AIG Global Investment Group has increased its buyout offer for Bulgarian dominant fixed-line telecommunications operator BTC by 5 percent. AIG earlier in the year acquired a 65 percent stake in BTC for EUR1.08 billion. An earlier attempt to buy out the remaining stake was temporarily rejected by Bulgarian regulators until documentation was fixed. AIG is now offering to pay EUR5.78 for each of the remaining shares, which number about 28.7 million. Return to Headlines Abstract News © Copyright 2007 INFORMATION, INC. |
16 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  |