KKR names first Brazil appointment
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US private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has made its first appointment in Brazil, naming Henrique Meirelles, one of the country’s most senior bankers, as its senior advisor in the country.
KKR’s appointment of the former central bank governor and one-time FleetBoston Corporate and Global Bank president comes as more private equity firms are building a presence in Latin America’s largest economy.
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“As a senior advisor, Mr Meirelles will play an important role in KKR’s business development effort in Brazil and in Latin America,” the firm said in a statement. At the start of this month, Lazard, the independent investment bank, hired Mr Meirelles as chairman of Lazard Americas.
Private equity firms attracted a record total of $10.3bn for investment in Latin America last year, four-fifths of it directed towards Brazil. This was 27 per cent more than they raised a year earlier, according to figures from the Latin American Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.
Firms also staged a record number of exits with deal volumes worth a total of about $10.6bn for the region, about three times the figure of a year earlier.
Firms are keen to tap the growth of Brazil’s emerging middle class, which has expanded by more than 30m people in less than a decade and is still spending on consumer goods despite the global economic slowdown.
Brazil’s “strong internal market can be a consistent source of prosperity for both the Brazilian people and the companies that invest here”, said Mr Meirelles in a statement from KKR on his appointment.
Aside from KKR, 3i, the British firm, is among those that have been expanding in São Paulo along with other international groups, such as General Atlantic and Carlyle.
Private equity has become an important driver of mergers and acquisitions in the country. In recent deals, Brazilian firm GP Investments sold the steakhouse franchise, or Brazilian churrascaria, Fogo de Chão, to Thomas H Lee Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm, for $400m.
And the food unit of energy and agribusiness group Cosan and Camil, Latin America’s biggest rice exporter, created a company working in Brazil’s sugar, rice and fish markets.
JPMorgan-owned Brazilian fund house Gávea Investimentos, which already had nearly 32 per cent of Camil, will own 30 per cent of the consolidated business.
Mr Meirelles was Brazil’s longest-serving central bank governor, working under former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva between 2003 and 2010.
He is also chairman of J&F, the parent of the world`s largest beef exporter, JBS, run by Brazil’s Batista brothers and he sits on the board of Brazilian airline Azul Linhas Aéreas Brasileiras.
(Joe Leahy | Financial Times)
