The Carlyle Group Acquires Mexican Direct Seller Arabela from Procorp and Advent International

Mexico City - The Carlyle Group, Procorp and Advent International today announced that Carlyle has completed the acquisition of Arabela, a door-to-door retailer of assorted beauty and personal-care products in Mexico, from Advent and Procorp. The value of the transaction was not disclosed.

Founded in 1991, Arabela is a participant in the direct sales sector in Mexico. Through a bi-weekly catalog and a network of more than 115,000 independent sales persons, the company offers an assortment of fragrances, toiletries, beauty, health and other personal-care items nationwide. Its business is founded on a “single-level” model, in which the sales network acquires products directly from the company. Over the past 12 months, Arabela has delivered more than 2.5 million orders totaling almost 50 million individual items, making it the largest independent, single-level direct seller in the country. The company has approximately 1,300 employees.

Joaquín Avila, Managing Director and Head of the Carlyle Mexico Buyout Team, said, “This is a great step for Arabela. It marks the completion of a successful stage of development for the company under Procorp and Advent. Carlyle is excited about the tremendous potential of the direct sales model and looks forward to building on Arabela’s strong position as a preeminent player in the Mexican door-to-door market.”

Alfredo Alfaro, a Partner at Advent in Mexico City and lead deal person for the Arabela investment, said, “This transaction marks the end of a cycle, which Procorp began in creating the company and which Advent is proud to have been part of for the past nine years. Arabela has significant potential to increase its presence, diversify geographies and enhance its product offering. We are confident Carlyle and the management team will be successful in this new phase for the business.”

Arabela will continue to be led by the incumbent Chief Executive Officer, Walter Biel, and his designated senior management team. “This is a terrific milestone for our company,” Mr. Biel said. “We have made great strides in consolidating our market presence, institutionalizing and professionalizing the business and making Arabela a serious competitor in the sector. We are very pleased to be working with Carlyle as we strive to take the business to an even higher level.”

Acquisition financing for the transaction was provided by Scotia Capital. Ritch Mueller and Galicia Robles were legal advisors to Carlyle and Advent, respectively.

* * * * *

Advent International
Founded in 1984, Advent International is one of the world's leading global buyout firms, with offices in 15 countries on four continents. A driving force in international private equity for more than two decades, Advent has built an unparalleled global platform of over 100 investment professionals across Western and Central Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on cross-border, strategic restructuring and growth opportunities in five core sectors, employing a highly active ownership approach to drive earnings improvements in portfolio companies. Since inception, Advent has raised $12 billion in private equity capital and completed more than 200 buyout and private equity transactions valued at over $30 billion in 35 countries. For more information, visit www.adventinternational.com.

Procorp
Procorp S.A: de C.V. Sociedad de Inversión de Capital de Riesgo is a Mexican listed holding company that takes equity positions in Mexican companies requiring capital in medium and long term horizons. Procorp was founded in 1986 and listed in the Mexican Stock Exchange in 1989.

# # #