Exclusive: Wamex nears first close for Fund III

Wamex Private Equity is expecting to hold a first close for its third fund in July, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Wamex declined to comment. Fund III launched earlier this year and is targeting between $200 million and $250 million, according to the firm’s website.

Wamex’s prior fund, Multinational Industrial Fund II, closed on $160 million, exceeding its $150 million target in 2012, according to Private Equity International’s Research and Analytics division. Limited partners in the fund include Mexican pensions Afore XXI Banorte, Afore Banamex and Principal Afore.

The firm’s debut fund, a 2002 vintage, raised $66 million and received commitments from the Inter-American Investment Corporation and the Corporación Mexicana de Inversiones de Capital, or Fondo De Fondos, according to PEI data.

Fund III will make investments of between $15 million and $30 million each in between six and eight Mexican companies, according to the website. The firm focuses on mid-sized companies both inside and outside of Mexico in high-growth manufacturing or services enterprises.

Fund II invested in six mid-market companies, including pharmaceutical company Productos Medix and business hotel chain Hoteles City Express.

Mexico City-based Wamex was co-founded in 2000 by senior managing partner Ernesto Warnholtz, who previously worked at the Munich Reinsurance Company for 33 years, and managing partner Christian Warnholtz, who previously worked in the capital markets group at BBV Securities in London.