Carlyle Mexico MDs Launch New Venture

The 4 executives in charge of Carlyle Mexico Partners are setting up an independent private equity shop, EMX Capital, to focus fully on investing in Mexico, Joaquin Avila, one of the managing directors, tells LatinFinance. EMX, he says, will be in charge of investing what’s left of Carlyle’s $134.4m Mexico fund, spending $10m-$30m on a project that is likely to close in about 6-8 weeks. Avila adds that the majority of the fund is already invested. Some of the industries the fund might invest in, Avila adds, are education and healthcare. After the Carlyle fund is fully invested, Avila and his partners – Rodrigo Fonseca, Miguel Valenzuela and Andres Obregon – will continue to focus on Mexico with EMX, as Carlyle seeks to focus on establishing larger funds upwards of $500m in other markets such as Brazil. Avila denies that there was an MBO, as was rumored among Mexico City-based bankers. Carlyle will still hold a minority stake in EMX, which will operate from the same premises. A Carlyle spokesman declines to disclose the size of the remaining stake, and rejects local chatter that Carlyle is pulling out of Mexico. Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein said last week that he is bullish on Brazil as risk aversion subsides, and he expects assets under management in the region to increase.