H.I.G. Capital Completes Strategic Investment in Virutex Ilko
BOGOTÁ, Colombia & SANTIAGO, Chile–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#BCorpCertification–H.I.G. Capital (“H.I.G.”), a leading global alternative investment firm with over $49 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce that one of its affiliates has completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Virutex Ilko (“Virutex” or the “Company”), a leading cleaning products and kitchenware manufacturer in Latin America. The founding shareholders of Virutex will remain as significant shareholders in the Company alongside H.I.G. Virutex’s current senior management team, led by CEO Juan Martin Monsalve, will continue to lead the Company. Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Virutex, headquartered in Chile, is one of the leading providers of disinfecting, cleaning, and kitchenware products in Latin America, with direct operations in Chile, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and Mexico. The Company has a diversified and comprehensive portfolio of over 2,000 products which it distributes to more than 20 countries worldwide. Virutex has sustainability and ESG principles embedded across its processes and products, and holds a B-Corp certification, a global and independent recognition for businesses that meet high standards of environmental and social performance, accountability, and transparency.
Juan Martin Monsalve, CEO of Virutex, commented: “We are very pleased that H.I.G., with its international presence and resources, will join us in our growth over the coming years. We expect that, with H.I.G.’s support, we will be able to expand our brand portfolio with a continuing focus on sustainability.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Virutex, its management team and founding shareholders on the Company’s next stage of growth. Virutex has developed an impressive set of consumer products with well-known brands in the Chilean market, and a growing recognition in several other countries in Latin America,” said Fabio Saad, Managing Director and Head of the Andean Region for H.I.G.
Fernando Marques Oliveira, Managing Director and Head of H.I.G. Brazil and Latin America, also commented: “This important transaction marks H.I.G.’s first investment in Chile. We continue to accelerate our capital deployment in the region and build on H.I.G.’s position as one of the leading and most active global investors in Latin America.”
About Virutex
Founded over 75 years ago, Virutex is one of the leading providers of disinfecting, cleaning, and kitchenware products in Latin America. The Company has an extensive regional footprint, with direct operations in Chile, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and Mexico, and indirect presence in over 20 countries worldwide. Virutex has over 1,500 employees, and four production plants (two in Chile, one in Colombia, and one in Peru). The Company has a comprehensive and diversified portfolio of over 2,000 products, and has longstanding relationships with blue-chip and large multinational retailers in Latin America. Moreover, Virutex has a strong sustainability focus, and is a certified B-Corp. For more information, please visit https://www.cocinailko.cl/.
About H.I.G. Capital
H.I.G. is a leading alternative assets investment firm with over $49 billion of equity capital under management*. Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach:
- H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses.
- H.I.G.’s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance.
- H.I.G.’s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices.
- H.I.G. Infrastructure focuses on making value-add and core plus investments in the infrastructure sector.
Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.
*Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.
Contacts
Fabio Saad
Managing Director
fsaad@higcapital.com