Atlanta-based Latinvest LLC investment group has acquired a Florida electronic funds transfer company to expand its services for U.S. Hispanics sending remittances to family members in Latin America.
Latinvest, which acquires money transfer and financial services companies, announced March 31 that it teamed with Great Hill Partners LLC of Boston to acquire Sunrise, Fla.-based Vigo Remittance Corp.
Vigo provides funds transfer services in 33 countries, handling approximately $2.5 billion in consumer money transfers in 2002.
“The Latin American and Caribbean funds transfer markets have been growing rapidly, and we are excited about our plans to further grow the business in these market corridors,” said Roger Timm, executive vice president of the investment group and Vigo.
Remittances, or funds sent from immigrants to their countries of origin, in the Latin America-Caribbean region are expected to exceed $42 billion by 2005, Mr. Timm said. This region receives the largest amount of worldwide remittances, which were more than $140 billion last year, he added.
“All of Latinvest’s original investors are here in Atlanta, and Georgia is a prominent market for our services,” Mr. Timm told GlobalFax.
Mr. Timm and Mario Trujillo, CEO of Latinvest’s partnership and Vigo, founded Latinvest with the help of Latino business leaders here, including Luis Aguilar, partner with Alston & Bird LLP; Rene Diaz, CEO of Diaz Foods Inc.; Salvador Diaz-Verson, CEO of Diaz-Verson LLC and Norberto Sanchez, CEO of Norsan Group Inc.
Other investors include Charles Ackerman, chairman and CEO of Ackerman & Co.; Bryan Adams, former partner with ITC Holdings Inc.; Michael Mertens, partner with Latinvest and Mark Armstrong, associate with Monarch Inc.
For more information, visit HYPERLINK http://www.usatransfers.com www.usatransfers.com or contact Mr. Timm at (770) 281-8900.