(MarketWatch) Jaguar Growth Partners, a private equity firm focused exclusively on real assets in growth markets globally, is pleased to announce the opening of its office in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Jaguar Growth Investimentos do Brasil Ltda, will be headed by Christian Klotz and Ricardo Costa, two recent additions to the Firm’s growing team. The new office establishes Jaguar’s presence in Latin American with investment and asset management activities in Brazil and throughout the region.
“We understand the importance of a local presence, strengthening our relationships with entrepreneurs, private equity firms and others in the region,” said Jaguar Managing Partner Thomas McDonald. “Our presence in Brazil is the first of several strategic office locations, highly-important and distinguishing for Jaguar Growth Partners,” added Managing Partner Gary Garrabrant.
Prior to joining Jaguar, Mr. Klotz co-founded UJAY Capital, an investment fund focused on Brazilian and Latin American listed equity and macro securities. At UJAY, he was the portfolio manager of the long-short equity fund with investments in various sectors including real estate, while based in Sao Paulo. Prior to UJAY Capital, Mr. Klotz was a portfolio analyst at Pollux Capital, a Brazilian based asset manager. He has served as a director for several publicly-listed real estate and industrial companies in Brazil including Abyara and Portobello (PTBL3). Mr. Klotz holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Instituto Maua de Tecnologia in Brazil and received his M.B.A. from the Columbia Business School, University of Columbia, and Walter Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.
Prior to joining Jaguar, Mr. Costa was a Partner at Gavea Investimentos, one of the largest alternative investment managers in Brazil with over US$7 billion in assets under management, controlled by JP Morgan Asset Management. Mr. Costa joined the private equity division of Gavea in December 2010 as a Principal, becoming a Partner in January 2013. At Gavea, Mr. Costa led several investments in the retail, logistics, services and telecom sectors, and was a Board Member of Camisaria Colombo, CSS (Cell Site Solutions), Rumo Logistica and Simpress. In October 2013, Mr. Costa assumed the CFO role and interim management of CSS, a co-investment of Gavea and Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking capitalizing on the opportunity to explore the growing telecom towers market in Brazil.
From 2005 to 2010, Mr. Costa worked as an Associate at Votorantim Novos Negocios (“VNN”), the private equity and venture capital arm of Votorantim Group, one of the largest Latin American industrial conglomerates, where he was responsible for the investments in IT/BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) and Services sectors. Mr. Costa graduated from Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Sao Paulo (FGV-EAESP), where he received a B.A in Business Administration, and is currently pursuing an M.B.A.