13 November 2013, Washington, DC: The Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (“EMPEA”) announces that Ziad Oueslati, Founding Partner of AfricInvest Group, and Maninder Saluja, Partner and Co-Head of Emerging Markets at Quilvest, have been elected to the organization’s governing body, the Board of Directors.

Ziad Oueslati co-founded AfricInvest Group in 1994 and today the Group is counted among the leading players in private equity operating across the African continent. Mr. Oueslati possesses extensive experience negotiating equity and quasi-equity operations, having led the arrangement and placement of over US$800 million in private equity funds, both locally and internationally. He has been a valued member of EMPEA’s Africa Council and will maintain his seat on the regional body.

Maninder Saluja co-heads Quilvest’s emerging market programs which include the oversight of over $1.0 billion of capital directed towards emerging private equity markets. He has been jointly responsible for the private equity activities across Asia, Latin America and Africa since joining Quilvest in 2005. Mr. Saluja is based in Hong Kong and will remain a valued contributor to EMPEA’s Asia Council. Quilvest is a global independent wealth manager and private equity investor dedicated to wealth preservation and generation. The group has approximately US$25 billion of assets under management of which approximately $5.0 billion is directed towards private equity.

Responding to his election, Mr. Saluja said, “I am honored to be joining a Board of such high caliber individuals and I look forward to contributing to this impressive pool of knowledge, focused on how we can better catalyze the development of up and coming middle market managers within the emerging markets.” Further commenting on the news, Mr. Oueslati said, “The support EMPEA provides to investors and fund managers in the emerging markets is very important. I am honored to be joining this dedicated group of practitioners on EMPEA’s Board of Directors and look forward to supporting EMPEA in its mission to promote private equity investment across the African continent in particular.”

EMPEA serves over 300 member firms, representing over US$1 trillion in assets under management. EMPEA Members include institutional investors, fund managers and other industry stakeholders who share the belief that private equity investment in emerging markets can generate attractive returns to investors while creating significant value for companies, economies and communities.

Robert W. van Zwieten, President and CEO of EMPEA, commented further on the announcement, “As both Africa and Asia each play a unique and pivotal role in the growth story of emerging markets, a deep understanding of the investment landscapes characterizing each region in particular is instrumental to fulfilling EMPEA’s mission. We are very fortunate to welcome two well-respected, emerging markets investors to EMPEA’s Board of Directors.”

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About GPCA:

The Global Private Capital Association, which was founded as the Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA) in 2004, is a non-profit, independent membership organization representing private capital investors who manage more than USD2t in assets across Asia, Latin America, Africa, Central & Eastern Europe and the Middle East. United by a long-term investment approach, our members are fund and institutional investors including private equity, growth equity, venture capital, credit, pension plans and sovereign wealth funds, among others.

H. Jeffrey Leonard (Chair), Global Environment Fund; Teresa Barger (Vice Chair), Cartica Management LLC; Thomas C. Barry, Zephyr Management LP; Michael  Calvey, Baring Vostock Capital Partners; Okechukwu Enelamah, African Capital Alliance; Paul Fletcher, Actis; Mark Kenderdine-Davies, CDC Group plc; Roger S. Leeds, Johns Hopkins University SAIS; Piero Minardi, Gávea Investimentos; Sanjay Nayar, KKR India Advisors Pvt. Ltd.; Ziad Oueslati, AfricInvest Group; Robert Petty, Clearwater Capital Partners; André Roux, Ethos Private Equity Ltd.; Jean Eric Salata, Baring Private Equity Asia; Maninder Saluja, Quilvest; George W. Siguler, Siguler Guff & Company; Sev Vettivetpillai, The Abraaj Group; Pote Videt, Lombard Investments; Rebecca Xu, Asia Alternatives Management LLC, and Yichen Zhang, CITIC Capital.