Larrain Vial, a Chilean brokerage that manages about $14 billion, has raised more than $250 million for a global private equity fund in partnership with Blackstone Group.
Larrain Vial says it expects to double that amount shortly, tapping into rising private equity interest from Chilean institutional investors, especially private pension funds (known as AFPs).
AFPs, which have more than $100 billion in assets under management, invest a small proportion of their assets in private equity but that is expected to grow. Larrain Vial, which also operates in Peru, Colombia and Mexico, will probably begin as a broker dealer in the US during the next few months.
"It is...
