GP Investimentos prepares to go regional(3)

One of Brazil’s oldest private equity firms, GP Investimentos, is going regional.

Antonio Bonchristiano, GP Investimentos’ co-chairman, co-CEO and president, said his firm is looking to expand outside of Brazil for the first time and target other countries in Latin America.

Bonchristiano reveals these plans in an upcoming profile in sister publication PEI Manager.

“We’re actively looking at deals elsewhere in Latin America and we’re also considering opening one or two offices outside of Brazil at this moment,” he says. There are two natural targets for expansion: Mexico and the Southern Cone of Latin America, both in terms of investments and physical office presence.

Earlier this month, the firm announced the first close of its fourth fund, GP Capital Partners IV, at $1.025 billion (€745 million). Bonchristiano disclosed that the firm is still talking to limited partners and is hoping to raise another $200 million or so in LP commitments.

Just today, Advent International announced a final close for its latest Latin America private equity fund, rounding up a total of $1.3 billion. That vehicle is for now the largest yet raised targeting the region.

GP Investimentos has largely been focusing on Brazil over its 15 year history, but through GPCP IV, it can invest up to 25 percent in non-Brazilian companies. Bonchristiano says the firm is “definitely” building a pipeline outside of Brazil and intends to use that full allowance.

Ideally, says Bonchristiano, the next fund will have the full flexibility of allocating capital either inside or outside of Brazil.

GP Investimentos was founded by Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Hermann Telles in 1992. In 2003, the trio sold the company to the current management team. GP Investimentos now manages $1.5 billion in private equity assets out of its sole office in São Paulo.