LAVCA’s Board to Include Senior Managers of Aureos Capital, Citigroup Venture Capital Latin America,
Darby Overseas Investments and Latin America Enterprise Fund Managers

Chicago, IL, May 27, 2005 – The Latin American Venture Capital Association (LAVCA), announced today that four new directors have joined the trade association’s board of directors. LAVCA’s new directors are Bruce Catania, Managing Director and Latin America Department Head, Citigroup Venture Capital International (CVCI), Eduardo Elejalde, Founding Partner of Latin America Enterprise Fund Managers (LAEF), Julio Lastres, Managing Director of Darby Overseas Investments, Ltd., and Erik Peterson, Managing Partner of Aureos Capital.

“I welcome the four individuals joining LAVCA’s board as proven leaders in the industry,” said LAVCA Interim Executive Director Christina Kappaz. “Their experience will be of great value in realizing LAVCA’s plans for growing the industry.”

CVCI is the region’s largest corporate equity investor, managing over US $1 billion in private equity assets since 1997. LAEF, which counts Peruvian Finance Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski as a former CEO, has committed approximately $400 million to the region since inception in 1994. Darby, a subsidiary of Franklin Templeton Investments, has approximately $700 million under management within the region. Aureos Capital, with major shareholders CDC and Norfund, manages approximately $50 million throughout Central America and the Dominican Republic.

LAVCA’s new directors listed the association’s established leadership, strength of the existing board, and its perseverance in growing within difficult market conditions as deciding factors in assuming their new role.

“As the organization is a leading forum for the exchange of ideas and promotion of industry concerns, it seemed a natural decision to join,” said Mr. Catania. “Many themes that need to be emphasized are already priorities of LAVCA, such as good corporate governance, minority investor protections and an environment that emphasizes creation of shareholder value.”

Although their tenure will begin officially with the association’s next board meeting in July, the new directors have begun to outline key priorities for LAVCA in growing the industry in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Said Mr. Peterson, “My hope would be for lessons learned in Latin American private equity over the past two decades to be applied to the industry going forward, and for the region to develop into an investment class of interest to local investors and to international investors looking to diversify their portfolios.”

He further noted that LAVCA can support this process by becoming the point of interaction for fund managers throughout the region. As manager for Aureos Capital’s Central America Fund, Mr. Peterson’s presence on LAVCA’s board adds needed representation for the nations of Central America and the Caribbean.

Mr. Lastres’ directorship adds continuity to Darby’s board presence. Richard Frank, the current chair of LAVCA’s board and CEO of Darby Overseas Investments, Ltd., will be succeeded as chair in the next month.

“LAVCA can play a critical role in attracting first-class global players by continuing to support ongoing efforts to improve industry standards and by becoming a reliable source of information for regional and global investors,” said Mr. Lastres.

Messrs. Lastres, Peterson, Catania and Elejalde join Mr. Frank and current Directors David Thomas, Director of Intel Capital Latin America, Everett Santos, CEO of the AIG-GE Latin American Infrastructure Fund, Claudia Fan Munce, Managing Director of the IBM Global Venture Capital Group, David Abraham, Director of Teclatino, Inc., and James Hallmark, Country Director for the Millennium Challenge Corporation and LAVCA’s General Counsel.

About LAVCA
LAVCA’s mission is to promote the growth of the venture capital and private equity industry in Latin America through research, education, networking, best practices, and the advocacy of sound public policy. LAVCA is a not-for-profit trade association serving a core membership of venture capital and private equity firms that invest in emerging companies. For more information on LAVCA and its activities please visit www.lavca.org.