CRP Companhia de Participações

A pioneer of private equity and venture capital in southern Brazil

Founded in 1981 in Porto Alegre, the state capital of Rio Grande do Sul, CRP Companhia de Participações manages private equity and venture capital funds. It describes itself as a pioneer in the Brazilian industry with more than 35 years of experience and ten funds set up. Its base gave it an advantage in finding opportunities across the southern states and São Paulo, a region that it says accounts for half of the country's economic output and is its target market.

Two phases of work

The firm divides its history into an early-stage phase from 1981 to 2005 and a growth capital phase from 2006 onward. Experience from the first phase led it to move toward growth capital deals, because larger companies were also looking to improve their governance and management. Most of those companies in Brazil are family businesses with little or no experience of a private equity investor, and for many the investment is a chance to professionalize and add value to their assets.

Funds over the years

The firm launched its second investment fund, CRP Caderi, and later its first technology fund, RSTec, followed by SCTec and SPTec. Growth capital came through CRP VI Venture, then CRP VII and CRP Empreendedor. In 2013, in an attempt to strengthen the venture capital environment, it accepted an invitation to act as technical adviser to a new start-up fund, CVentures Primus, which looks for deals in the same region and may feed future targets for its own growth strategy.

Track record

Over its history the firm reports 81 investments in varied sectors and 52 divestments, with 19 companies in the portfolio at the time of writing. The companies shown on its site operate in laundry services, digital games, auto parts, healthy food, animal health, cosmetics, decorative accessories, supply distribution, automotive accessories and periodicals, in places such as São Paulo, Porto Alegre, São Leopoldo and Flores da Cunha.

Principles and structure

CRP lists a set of values: the leadership of the entrepreneur in the success of the business, a drive for growth and added value through support at strategic, tactical and operational levels, and alignment of interests built on relationship, trust and influence. It says it uses a management model in which partners are assigned to each stage of an investment and teams track each portfolio company individually. It is registered with the Brazilian securities regulator, the CVM, as administrator and manager of structured investment funds.

CRP Companhia de Participações is a private equity and venture capital manager from Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. It began in 1981 and has set up ten funds, which makes it one of the older firms in the Brazilian market.

Products and services

• Growth capital: since 2006 the firm mostly makes minority investments in established companies, many of them family owned.
• Early-stage investing: its first phase ran from 1981 to 2005; since 2013 it has also advised the CVentures Primus start-up fund.
• Hands-on support: help at strategic, tactical and operational level, including governance and professionalisation.

Clients

Companies in Brazil's South and in the state of São Paulo, which it treats as its target region, across a range of sectors.

Key facts

• Based in: Porto Alegre, Brazil
• Founded: 1981
• Track record: 81 investments and 52 exits, with 19 companies in the portfolio
• Regulation: registered with Brazil's securities regulator, the CVM, as manager of structured investment funds