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Fraga's Gavea Fund Considers Initial Public Offer (Update1)

By Adriana Brasileiro and Laura Cassano

July 24 (Bloomberg) -- The hedge fund managed by Arminio Fraga, former president of Brazil's central bank, may raise capital through an initial public offering.

Fraga said Gavea Investimentos, a hedge fund based in Rio de Janeiro with $4.5 billion under management, is ``well capitalized'' and it's ``just an idea'' to have an IPO.

``There is a possibility but it's not like those plans are consolidated in our minds,'' he told reporters at an event in New York yesterday.

He said global liquidity has allowed Gavea to raise cash for its investments. The fund last month bought a 25 percent stake in Policard, a credit-card company, for an undisclosed amount, as it added to its consumer goods, logistics and agribusiness investments. Gavea earlier this year bought a stake in McDonald's Corp.'s restaurants in Latin America.

``What one cannot go on believing that this environment will last forever,'' Fraga said. ``We have been conservative, not raising too much cash, and doing that with appropriate maturities, always with an eye on market mood swings.''

U.S. Housing Concerns

Fraga said losses related to the U.S. housing and subprime mortgage markets may lead to a correction in world asset prices. There is no doubt the housing market rout is reining in growth in the U.S. economy, he said.

``Markets have been very happy since 2001; It's healthy at this time to ask ourselves if everything is really ok,'' he said.

Fraga also said emerging markets are less vulnerable to slowing world economic growth because governments have taken steps to control spending and make their markets more flexible.

``Brazil is doing very well now because it has a consistent economic policy and financial markets that are healthy and well capitalized,'' Fraga said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Adriana Brasileiro in Rio de Janeiro at abrasileiro@bloomberg.net ; Laura Cassano in New York at lcassano@bloomberg.net