U.S. private equity firm Carlyle Group plans to announce two or three deals soon in Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, co-founder David Rubenstein said on Wednesday.

The deals may be in the $100 million range, he said on the sidelines of an industry conference in Brazil's financial capital, Sao Paulo.

Brazil's economy has emerged from a six-month recession and is expected to expand by as much as 5 percent in 2010, luring billions of dollars from foreign investors seeking to benefit from growth in the country.

I think private equity firms that are entering Brazil need to recognize that you only make money when the economy grows, Rubenstein said.

We also recognize that Brazil is the fifth most populous country in the world and its GDP will probably be the fifth-largest in the world in the next decade, so we need to be here, he added.

Dealmakers will probably look at the size of the domestic economy, foreign trade patterns and political stability to seek buyouts in Brazil and China, Rubenstein said.

(Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Writing by Elzio Barreto; editing by John Wallace)

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