Singapore-based private equity firm Novo Tellus has closed its third fund at $510 million, according to a statement on Wednesday. Novo Tellus reached the first close for the vehicle in June 2023 and eventually surpassed its fundraising target by 36%.
The PE investor added that all of its existing limited partners (LPs) returned for Novo Tellus PE Fund 3, alongside a set of new global LPs who joined the vehicle.
The fund was last reported by AVCJ to be backed by Temasek and US endowment funds and foundations.
Novo Tellus Fund 2 closed at $250 million in 2021 and focused solely on Southeast Asia. Its third fund signaled an expansion of its geographical mandate to cover the Indo-Pacific region.
“We’re grateful for the support of our distinguished and diverse limited partners, who represent many of the pre-eminent institutional investors globally,” said Novo Tellus Managing Partner Loke Wai San.
“While we are happy to complete fundraising in a difficult environment, we remain unflinchingly focused on our core business of partnering with great management teams to invest in growth and compound value for all stakeholders,” he added in the announcement.
Founded in 2011, Novo Tellus focuses on mid-market opportunities in the technology and industrial sector of the Indo-Pacific region. This represents a market of over 4,000 companies producing over $1.2 trillion in annual revenue covering a swathe of sectors like semiconductors, manufacturing, software, communications, life sciences and digital services.
According to Novo Tellus, the investor uses sector specialisation to build returns across the entire investment lifecycle. This covers a range of approaches from partnership building, scale-up ops, and growth pivots to build-and-buy techniques to enhance shareholder value and drive returns for investors.
Novo Tellus has listed 8 active portfolio firms on its website, including American semiconductor foundry Atomica; Singapore-headquartered high precision machining firm Grand Venture Technology; and SGX-listed industrial automation firm ISDN Holdings.
The fund manager most recently acquired a controlling stake in SP Manufacturing, with the family owners retaining a meaningful and active stake in the electronic manufacturing company.
Novo Tellus is joining a thin roster of Southeast Asia-based private equity players which have been able to meet their fundraising targets, amid a growing list of general partners in the private alternative asset class in the region that closed below their goals in recent months.
According to DealStreetAsia- DATA VANTAGE’s latest report, the first half of 2023 only saw three SE Asia-focused PE funds reach a final close after securing $452 million in total proceeds. This pales in comparison with the prior six months when five funds had garnered $1.96 billion in capital commitments.