Part I - Attractive but mysterious, Brazil offers potential for serious suitors

The economic crisis in Western economies has driven some new hedge fund managers to explore investing in new frontier markets, particularly if they have some experience of those regions.

Brazil has proved popular with new hedge fund managers as the first of the famous quintet of emergent economies in the acronym "BRICS", but it is not at the top of investors' lists - and neither is the rest of Latin America. Furthermore, the local hedge fund industry is healthy but there have been fewer launches in the last few years. Opalesque surveys the landscape.

Participants at the recent Opalesque Roundtable in Brazil

(LEFT TO RIGHT)Mauricio Levi (FAMA Investimentos), Eduardo Moreira (Plural Capital), Mariano Andrade (Polo Capital), Raquel Gonzalez, Matthias Knab (Opalesque) Vassilis Vergotis (Eurex), Marcia Rothschild (Citi's Securities and Fund Services), Otávio Vieira (Fides A.M.)

Investing in Brazil

Despite all the advances and evolution of the Brazilian market, Brazil is still considered a "mystery" to some foreign investors, a participant said during Opalesque's recent Brazil Roundtable. Brazil - and LatAm in general - is attractive but still at the bottom of the investment opportunity list. However, there has been more foreign money coming into the Brazilian market than before of late, in IPOs, the Bovespa (Sao Paolo' stock exchange), M&A deals and the private equity space.

Economic conditions in Brazil have improved over recent years, with a more attractive interest rat......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.