Minefield avoider

The rapid growth of emerging markets around the world has brought in its train a new wave of investment opportunity for private equity firms. At the same time, it has also confronted them with increasingly complex legal and compliance issues as they enter unpredictable and potentially volatile locations. Through a new hire, CDC Group, the UK government-backed emerging markets funds of funds manager, has responded to this challenge.
Mark Kenderdine-Davies has joined CDC as general counsel and chief compliance officer. In the newly created role, he will be responsible for all legal and compliance aspects of CDC’s activities globally and will advise the CDC board and investment committee on all legal and governance matters.
He will also co-ordinate and administer relations with transaction and fund counsel across the markets in which CDC invests.
Kenderdine-Davies has legal experience from previous spells as counsel at fund managers Gartmore Investment Management and Threadneedle Asset Management.
He also has emerging markets investment experience from prior stints as executive director at Vietnam investment company Sandry Investments and senior investment executive at Indochina Asset Management, an emerging markets private equity firm.
Commenting on the appointment, CDC chief executive Richard Laing said: “CDC invests in a number of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America and understanding the legal complexities of each of these jurisdictions is vital in enabling us to generate attractive returns from the emerging markets funds in which we invest.”
Formed in 1948 to help strengthen the economies of former UK colonies, CDC began focusing on equity investments in 1997 and then became a funds of funds manager in 2004. The firm has net assets of $2.9 billion and capital committed to over 60 emerging markets funds.
According to its website, CDC aims to commit 30 percent of its capital to “poor” countries, where gross national income (GNI) per head is less than $9,075, and 70 percent to “poorer” countries, where GNI is less than $1,750.
The organisation recently committed $5.8 million to Afghanistan Renewal Fund, the first private equity fund established for investment in the war-stricken country. The fund, which is managed by Acap Partners, had raised just over $20 million by mid-October 2006.