Russ Curry, Ministry of New Media
American hedge fund Tiger Global, which took a 30% stake in Brazilian operator, Elemídia, in 2006, has just increased its participation to 50%, according to Propmark.
“It is important to point out that the management remains in Brazilian hands”, affirms Flávio Polay, Director of Marketing and Sales at Elemídia. The business is run by the partners Philip Forjaz (President), Ricardo Marques (VP of Marketing and Saless) and Peter Grabriel Forjaz (VP of Operations). Earlier in the year there had been rumours linking Elemídia with RBS. “There was some speculation about discussions with RBS and other investment funds, but negotiations didn’t advance and have been terminated” confirms Polay.
Elemídia exists since 2003 and is present in 17 cities of Brazil, as well as in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where it has an association with its main competitor. In all, the company counts about 3 500 screens in almost a thousand different outlets.
On the goals for 2009, with the new injection of capital, Polay says that Elemídia plans to follow the trend of aggressive growth of recent years – in 2008 there was a 72% growth in the numbers of screens installed.
Tiger Global claims to manage funds worth US$ 4.5 billion, and also has a stake in Focus Media in China.
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