Asia Partners closes second growth fund at $474m; AUM crosses $1bIFC, DEG, and DFC are among the LPs in the fund.

Singapore-based private equity firm Asia Partners has closed its second fund, Asia Partners II LP, at $474 million, according to a statement on Tuesday.

While the company had not announced any official target for the vehicle, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), in a disclosure early last year, had indicated that Asia Partners II had a target of $600 million. The IFC had proposed an investment of up to $25 million in the fund.

Besides IFC, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) also committed to investing $30 million in Asia Partners II. DEG, the investment arm of German state-owned development bank KfW, had also committed $30 million to the fund.

Financial Investments Corporation (FIC) from the United States and Generation Capital from Canada are also limited partners (LPs) in the fund.

DealStreetAsia had reported in April last year that the firm had raised $373 million for its second buyout fund and a feeder fund, according to its filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

PE fund managers have been facing a challenging funding climate this year. Of the four PE funds that reached their final close in the first eight months of 2023, at least three failed to meet their initial fundraising targets, according to DealStreetAsia DATA VANTAGE‘s report Private Equity in SE Asia: H1 2023.

Growtheum Capital Partners, for instance, closed its first fund at $567 million in August 2023, below the target of $600-800 million. The Asia Energy Transition Fund, by Switzerland’s SUSI Partners, which closed at $120 million, also failed to meet its initial target of $250 million.

With the final close, Asia Partners’ assets under management now stand at $1 billion.

According to the company statement, the second fund is 23% larger than the firm’s inaugural fund, Asia Partners I LP, which received $384 million in commitments and completed its final close in March 2021.

More than 9% of the fund’s total capital is from Asia Partners’ employees and advisory board members, the company statement added.

Asia Partners was launched in 2019 by six co-founders: Nicholas Avinash Nash, Jill Cheong Hsi Min, Pitra Ciputra Harun, Oliver Minho Rippel, Kien Nguyen, and Vorapol Supanusonti.

The technology-focused investor is focused on the intersection of three key themes—the long-term growth potential of Southeast Asia, the rapid growth of innovative technology and technology-enabled businesses, and the scarcity of growth capital for these companies.

It has funded e-commerce businesses including Shopback, SCI Commerce, and GudangAda, omnichannel healthcare provider Doctor Anywhere, automotive marketplace Carsome, edtech company Snapask, and online travel firm RedDoorz.

Asia Partners bets on growth-stage companies as the firm still sees an acute Series C and Series D gap in the market.

“Asia Partners is deeply committed to supporting the growth of Southeast Asia’s next generation of entrepreneurs,” said Nicholas Nash, managing partner and a member of the investment committee in the announcement. 

Asia Partners’ legal advisor on the fundraising was Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Southern Right Capital Limited and Monument Group acted as placement agents.

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