Ricardo de Matheu will replace Fernando Alvarado as Manager of E+Co Capital, a subsidiary of E+Co, Inc.  E+Co Capital is the Fund Manager of The Central American Renewable Energy and Cleaner Production Facility (CAREC), a venture capital fund investing in Central America.  CAREC launched in August 2006 with core financial and institutional support from the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF) of the Inter-American Development Bank. CAREC also has financing from the Central American Bank of Economic Integration (CABEI); the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation, Ltd. (Finnfund); Stichting Triodos Renewable Energy for Development Fund (TREDF); and Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO).

De Matheu has over twenty years of management and investment experience in Central America. Over the past seven years, he served as the General Manager of Corporación Financiera Ambiental a regional investment fund with environmental and sustainable development interests. He has also served as investment advisor for the Aureos Capital-managed EMERGE venture fund focused on small and medium enterprises. He has successfully served in CEO and CFO positions in agro-industrial and export enterprises in El Salvador and Guatemala, and as holding company manager of a diversified group of businesses with interests in financial services, industry and real estate.

De Matheu has held numerous Board positions, including BANEX in Nicaragua and also served  as a faculty member of INCAE, in Costa Rica, where he earned his MBA degree.  He has a degree in Mechanical and Management Engineering from the Institute of Technology in Monterrey, Mexico. Alvarado, who structured and launched the CAREC fund, had been with E+Co since April 1999, serving as the Regional Manager of E+Co Latin America.  During his tenure at E+Co Capital, CAREC has approved and gradually financed a selection of renewable energy and cleaner production projects and companies for approximately two thirds of the fund's total capitalization.  The current pipeline should allow the fund  to be fully invested by the end of its investment term in August 2011.  Alvarado will pursue international entrepreneurial activities.

Daniel Shepherd, Senior Project Specialist of the Multilateral Investment Fund, said, "While we will miss Fernando Alvarado, we welcome Ricardo De Matheu and are confident that he will continue to lead CAREC forward successfully. "It has been a great pleasure to work with Fernando Alvarado these past 10 years and watch the growth of E+Co's activities in Latin America under his leadership, said Christine Eibs-Singer, CEO of E+Co.  While he will be missed, I am confident that under Ricardo's leadership, the E+Co Capital team will successfully manage  CAREC and future E+Co Capital activities in the region."

The CAREC fund invests in small-scale (up to 15 MW) renewable energy generation  projects, energy efficiency and cleaner production.  The fund offers subordinated debt, preferred shares and other quasi-equity instruments to strengthen the financial structure of investee companies and facilitate the leverage of senior debt.  In  addition to assessing and recommending potential deals for CAREC, E+Co Capital brings value-added services to prospective clients including financial and business advice.