Private Equity News & Analysis

Spain’s Dunas seeks LatAm LPs for Iberian FoF

The asset manager has set a €120m hard-cap for its debut private equity vehicle.

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Dunas Capital is to draw Latin American investors to its first private equity fund of funds vehicle backing Spanish and Portuguese general partners.

The Madrid-based asset manager is seeking €100 million for Rainforest Dunas Iberia Fund I which will have the flexibility to invest in venture capital, direct lending, infrastructure and special situations, according to a statement from the firm. Its target returns are unclear.

The fund is being distributed among high-net-worth individuals and family offices in Latin America, according to a source with knowledge of the firm. It is also seeking commitments from the firm’s existing institutional investor base, which includes Spanish insurance companies and pension funds.

Fund I has a €120 million hard-cap, the source noted. It is expected to make commitments of between €3 million to €15 million in six to 12 funds.

The vehicle is Dunas Capital’s first dedicated private equity fund, having previously managed public equity products, hedge funds and real estate. It has around €1 billion of assets under management and 85 employees, according to the statement.

Dunas is one of the latest Spanish firms eyeing Latin American LP capital. Nexxus Iberia, a Madrid-headquartered joint venture with Mexican GP Nexxus Capital, raised €130 million this year in part from Mexican family offices. The firm uses its ties with Mexico to help Spanish and Portuguese companies expand into Latin America.

Just 40 percent of the money raised by Spanish private capital firms last year came from domestic investors, according to Spanish private equity trade body Ascri. Spanish pension funds invested only 2.9 percent of the €1.86 billion raised by their compatriot private capital firms last year, while insurance companies committed 3.6 percent.

Insurance companies provided 8 percent of the €91.9 billion raised for European private capital last year, according to Invest Europe data. Pension funds committed 29 percent.

Dunas Capital declined to comment on the fund’s LP base and hard-cap.