Private-equity, venture capital funds invest R$11.6bn in Q1

Private-equity funds made investments of R$11.6 billion in Brazilian companies in the first quarter, up 8.4% year over year. The faster pace, this time, appears among the portfolios that invest in more mature companies, with R$5.2 billion, compared to R$1.9 billion in the same period in 2021. The venture capital portfolios, which focus on projects in early stages, allocated R$6.4 billion from January to March, with a drop of 27.3% compared to 12 months ago.The data are from a quarterly survey held by KPMG and the Brazilian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (Abvcap) unveiled to Valor.The seasonal comparison may say little of what is happening in the venture capital segment as a whole, said Roberto Haddad, a partner and leader for private equity and venture capital at KPMG in Brazil. "In the last two years, it has grown enormously, doubled in size. That’s an important indicator, but in the middle of the road there are fluctuations," he said. "The big indicator, the main one in my view, is the strength of this fund industry within the context of acquisitions and the dynamics of the Brazilian economy."Mr. Haddad points out that in the first quarter of 2020 the industry had invested R$5.7 billion in private-equity and venture-capital funds, but it is not possible to link the weaker performance to the Covid-19 pandemic, which entered the radar for real as of March.The apparent strength shown by private-equity funds in the first quarter may not extend into the year, said Piero Minardi, head of Abvcap. The executive, who also leads Warburg Pincus in Brazil, believes that the segment tends to be more sensitive to issues related to the election and the macroeconomic environment. "The moment the political picture is defined, regardless of who wins [the presidential election], and there is a clear path ahead, volatility disappears. The private-equity segment invests in longer cycles, it is difficult to position today because of the risk of a setback for a certain macro policy."In any case, privatizations, businesses in the infrastructure segment and in more basic segments such as chemicals and petrochemicals have attracted funds with large sums of money. For Mr. Minardi, depending on the agenda, sanitation and port projects have a lot of potential. The consumer industry is also usually followed by private-equity managers with attention."There is a factor that can be important: the interest rate itself. The companies have to finance...

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