Featured Research

Latin America has undoubtedly been affected by the global financial downturn. Investment levels dropped dramatically in 2009, echoing the "wait and see" sentiment that has been playing out in other emerging markets. However, Latin America is no stranger to distress and the policies put in place following prior crises, such as the devastating debt crisis of the 1980s, have helped minimize the fallout. A growing number of institutional investors are increasingly optimistic on Latin America. According to the 2009 EMPEA/Coller Capital Emerging Markets Private Equity Survey, 65% of limited partners expect to maintain or increase their allocations to the region in the short to medium term, suggesting that Latin America is well positioned to attract strong private equity investor interest in 2010. Private equity funds focused on Latin America raised more than US$10 billion between January 2007 and the third quarter of 2009. Among emerging markets, Latin America has been the second most active market for PE investment, behind Emerging Asia, with over US$7.5 billion deployed from January 2008 to September 2009.
Read full story
Featured Event
11-12 May 2010 - Washington DC
Consensus is growing that we are nearing a recovery in emerging markets private equity and despite a difficult 2009, most emerging markets economies have weathered the crisis intact - some are in fact leading the global recovery. Developed markets' private equity has been savaged by the drying up of credit, as private equity buyouts are significantly leverage-based. Emerging market private equity deals, however, have not traditionally relied on debt, so the collapse of the global leveraged finance markets has not significantly impeded deal making. Moreover, emerging economies are still showing signs of growth and LPs investing in these markets are retaining a positive outlook for new EM PE investment opportunities. During the industry’s largest and most comprehensive conference, we will be examining emerging market opportunities in this new financial world order and identifying which markets and sectors present the most compelling investment thesis and merit increased focus as well as explaining how investors can best position themselves to maximize returns.