Aureos Pushes into Andes with $300m PE Fund

Aureos, a global fund focused on mid-market private equity, is raising $300m for its Aureos Latin America Fund (ALAF). The vehicle marks the manager’s first push into Peru and Colombia, Erik Peterson, regional director for LatAm at Aureos, tells LatinFinance. “Private equity interest in Colombia and Peru is increasing,” says Peterson. He notes that a relatively recent turnaround in those countries’ politics and security situations is driving a boom in investment from corporates and financial investors. The ALAF will also target Central America and Mexico. Aureos has two smaller funds of $36m and $21m dedicated to CentAm and Caribbean, while in Mexico it has already closed two deals. The vehicle’s strategy will be to seek out both control and minority deals in various sectors, including education, non-bank financial services, healthcare, logistics, tourism, housing and transportation. ALAF, a 10-year vehicle targeting returns of 20% or more, is Aureos’ largest global regional fund, and tops the manager’s several vehicles in Asia. Peterson attributes the larger size to opportunities he sees in LatAm, and the fact that the maximum investment per deal for ALAF is $10m, unlike the $5m at which it usually caps its investments. Aureos hopes to have $300m for the fund raised by June.