PE Buyer Tells Owners Not to Sell

GP Investments co-CEO Antonio Bonchristiano says controlling shareholders of companies considering selling should not, as a general rule, get out at current valuations unless the firm needs to be restructured. “Right now there’s a big valuation gap,” says Bonchristiano, speaking at World Economic Forum meetings in Rio. The investor acknowledges a natural divergence between bargain prices buyers want and the 2007-2008 valuations that company owners still expect to realize. Bonchristiano says owners of good companies are right in wanting to hold on until valuations improve. Private equity activity in Brazil has dropped substantially since last year, he adds. His shop has been looking at distressed opportunities in Brazil mainly, but has not aggressively chased any big assets. A banker familiar with the a recent auction of Santelisa, for which exclusive negotiation rights were recently awarded to Louis Dreyfus, says GP was among the more timid bidders for the debt laden ethanol company.