Keynote address: Making deals happen in Latin America – analyzing deal structures and current trends in the private equity cycle

Santiago Castillo, Managing Director, Advent International

Santiago gave an overview of Advent, established in 1984, has raised US$25bn since.  They have 3 programs, geo-driven under a global partnership.  Latin America $1.7bn, Eastern Europe similar amount, US/Europe/Canada US$10bn.  They have been in LatAm for 14 years, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina. Colombia office was opened last year, they are excited about the region and plan to cover Peru from there.

On the valuation gap, earn outs will have their challenges. The companies that are more interesting to look at have higher growths, where the entrepreneur is looking to create even greater value.   More creativity is needed: structured deals, not just plain vanilla equity transactions.

In order to be a role in creating value, earnings growth: experience and industry insight, concrete and actionable initiatives.  Filling the management gaps, management and incentives are tied to performance and be more generous.

Maximization of governance through transparency and knowledge and application of compliance regulation locally.