In Feburary 2006, Gerardo León and Luc Gerard , comfortably ensconced on their office couch, were able to take a quiet moment to reflect which was a rare treat these last couple of months. Within the context of their previous employers, this number would not have sounded out of place or material. But for the very first time, both partners were talking about playing with their "own" cash. The stakes were significantly higher! A couple of months earlier, they had joined forces to launch one of the first private equity funds in Colombia. The idea was originated by Luc: After managing mergers and acquisitions and a globetrotting corporate livelihood engineering for others, he could no longer resist the impulse to do his own deals. With extensive networks in the corporate world and their reputations, it would be easy to locate potential deals.
Quickly establish one and they would need to start from scratch to have an opportunity of raising the money. One company that appeared especially interesting was EMI (Emergencias Medicas Integrales), a Colombian healthcare business supplying emergency services at home. While it had a revered brand, strong operations and healthy finances, it presented and was certainly undermanaged excellent value-creation opportunities through geographical growth and product development. A minor problem, however, was that they were out of money to acquire the company, let alone finance new purchases. A lastminute co-investor had saved the day, but they now faced selection time. Was EMI the company that would help them unlock the safes of the local institutional investors they desired for their private equity fund? Would they have the ability to create visibility and enough value rapidly through this deal and build themselves as deal makers? How should they treat this sudden outside investment for the deal? Was this an extremely different direction from the fund that was planned vehicle?
PUBLICATION DATE: April 30, 2009 PRODUCT #: INS095-PDF-ENG
This is just an excerpt. This case is about STRATEGY & EXECUTION
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