Global private equity firm Carlyle Group Inc has officially filed to raise its sixth Asia fund, which was earlier touted as its biggest buyout vehicle for this region.
In November last year, media reports indicated that Carlyle was seeking $8-10 billion for the Carlyle Asia Partners VI fund. In May this year, Bloomberg said the firm could raise $8.5 billion for the vehicle.
DealStreetAsia earlier reported that US pension fund Delaware Public Employees’ Retirement System will commit up to $40 million to Carlyle Asia Partners VI.
The predecessor fund, Carlyle Asia Partners V, was closed at $6.6 billion in 2018, exceeding an original target of $5 billion and more than 65% larger than the fourth fund.
Carlyle said in its Q1 2022 financial statement that Fund V has been 70% invested, and its realised investments brought an MOIC of 1.9x and 150% gross IRR.
By last month, the US-based firm also raised $620.7 million for another Asia vehicle, the Carlyle Asia Partners Growth II, which was launched in April 2021.
In Asia, the US-based PE firm manages five Asia buyout funds, totalling $15.55 billion, and two China funds.
Bloomberg reported in July that Carlyle will look to reduce its exposure to China by half for Fund VI, compared with the previous fund, due to rising geopolitical tensions.
Carlyle’s existing portfolio firms in Asia range from a stake in Chinese Internet giant Tencent’s e-book unit China Literature to Metropolis Healthcare, an India-based global operator of pathology laboratories.
It also invested $200 million in Kakao Mobility, South Korea’s online taxi-hailing and parking services providers.
The company’s notable partial exit in the Asia-Pacific region was the sale of a 10% stake in SBI Card, the second-largest credit card issuer in India, through one of the largest Indian large-cap private sector IPOs in a decade. Carlyle acquired a 26% stake in SBI Card from GE Capital in 2017.
The firm also agreed to sell its entire investment in Sunsho Pharmaceutical, a Japanese contract manufacturer of health and nutrition products, to Osaka-based Towa Pharmaceutical in December 2021.
Carlyle’s Asia team is led by Xiang-Dong Yang, its managing director and chairman of Asia, who has been with the firm for over two decades.
Carlyle Asia has invested over $17 billion in more than 155 companies in corporate private equity and had assets under management of more than $14 billion as of March 31, 2021.