Beyond the buyout is our weekly newsletter dedicated to private equity developments across Asia Pacific, with a special focus on Southeast Asia.
This edition captures the current fundraising environment in India that favours fund managers with successful exits; the factors turning small and mid-cap funds into ‘zombies’ in SE Asia and China; and top PE updates from APAC.
Track record matters
IFC’s likely investment of up to $65 million in the latest PE vehicle of India’s A91 Partners, led by former Sequoia Capital executives, signals LPs’ continued backing of successor funds, betting on seasoned fund managers and their investment thesis, notwithstanding the tough market conditions.
IFC’s continued support to “a young fund manager” who “has not had complete exits from either Fund I or Fund II,” will support the vehicle to achieve its final close, it said in its disclosure.
A91 Partners targets small- to mid-market companies in India, that continue to face a significant funding crunch in the country. A91, which is seeking $675 million for the latest vehicle, has backed Blue Tokai Coffee, Atomberg, Digit Insurance, HealthKart, and Paper Boat.
Homegrown PE giant ChrysCapital reportedly raised $2.1 billion for its latest fund, marking the largest-ever capital raising by an Indian buyout firm. The new vehicle would beat the record $1.7 billion raised by Kedaara Capital in 2024.
A host of Indian fund managers are on the fundraising road to raise significant corpus as they gear up to navigate the current turbulent times while backing good companies with solid unit economics.
“These vintages are the best to deploy new capital,” Kedaara’s Manish Kejriwal said in an earlier interview, highlighting how “short-term corrections often lead to better conduct in the future.”
Why SE Asia’s secondary market lags
A strong primary market fuels secondary activity, but in Asia—mainly due to China—a shrinking investor pool is constraining both, explained executives at StepStone Group.
“What is happening right now is that the region [SE Asia] is undergoing a transition and rebalancing from China, where the LPs are over-exposed and there is a relatively small pool of GPs having consistent performance,” said David Huang, principal at the US-headquartered firm.
“This makes it challenging for LPs to find attractive investment opportunities,” he added.
Greenhill’s APAC private market review in 2024 highlighted how investors are increasingly redirecting their attention to North America and Europe for secondary deals, while demand in APAC remains tepid despite Australia, Japan, and India emerging as bright spots.
‘Zombification’ in SE Asia, China’
Liquidity continued to be top of mind for LPs and GPs alike in 2024. While the sentiment is merrier in India, where both PE-backed IPOs and secondary transactions are gaining steam, investors may question what lies ahead for China and SE Asia.
In China, a reshuffle of the private market industry is expected to accelerate as economic and geopolitical challenges speed up the elimination of zombie funds. A total of 928 private-market investment institutions completed their deregistration in 2024, about seven times more than the number of newly registered fund managers in the country, according to data from industry association AMAC.
By the end of 2024, the number of PE and VC firms in China stood at 12,083, down 810 from 2023.
“The number of private-market investment firms has dropped to the current 12,000 or so from its peak of 15,000. It is most likely to reduce further to below 10,000 as many participants end up becoming ‘zombie funds,’” said Liu Zhou, founding partner and chairman of Fortune Capital, during an event in Beijing.
‘Zombification’ is lurking in SE Asia too, as GPs have found it hard to make exits and raise new funds.
A DPI of more than 1.0 in SE Asia “is still something of a mirage”, said a family office representative who has exposure to the region. “I still see many SE Asian GPs relying on fees while there should be a big carried interest component,” the investor said.
Consulting firms, however, are more bullish. According to Bain & Co, 2023 marked a 6-year low in terms of exit value in SE Asia, while EY indicated a positive outlook for 2025 as PE-backed exits last year almost doubled to $5.9 billion across 27 deals, versus $3.3b in 13 deals in 2023.
Top PE developments in APAC
Fundraising
Venturi Partners, a growth equity firm focused on consumer investments in India and Southeast Asia, launched its second fund, aiming to raise $225 million with a final close expected by mid-2026.
FMO proposed a $50-million commitment to Green Investments Partnership, a $1-billion closed-ended debt fund to finance green infrastructure projects in emerging Asia.
Deals
A consortium led by Singapore-based PE firm RRJ Capital is making a $600 million equity investment in Vista to optimise the Dubai-based aviation group’s capital structure.
China’s Fosun Pharmaceutical Group agreed to sell its stake in New Frontier Health, which operates 11 hospitals and 24 clinics under the United Family Healthcare brand in the country, to Warburg Pincus for $124.08 million.
Malaysia’s state-owned PE fund Ekuinas made a strategic investment in Bluesify Solutions, a domestic cybersecurity firm.
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, raised $2 billion from Abu Dhabi’s MGX, backed by sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and AI firm G42. The deal, which marked its first institutional round, is significant as it comes amidst crypto market volatility in the global market.
Meanwhile, True North led a $28 million round in Nivara Home Finance, which provides housing finance to India’s underserved communities.
People
Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, one of Canada’s largest pension funds, plans to close its Hong Kong office to optimise its footprint in the APAC region, Bloomberg reported.
Some Hong Kong-based employees will be offered to relocate to Singapore while others will leave the firm as the pension giant winds down on-the-ground operations over the coming 18 months.
MGX roped in executives from PE giants Apollo Global Management and Warburg Pincus to beef up its US operations, Bloomberg reported. The investor hired Andy Pickens in New York as its managing director and AI product lead. Earlier it brought on board Warburg Pincus’s David Mamikonyan as chief security officer.
IPO plans
Southeast Asian companies are lining up for public debut after a tepid period across regional exchanges. Indonesian coffee chain Fore Coffee is set for an IPO early next month, looking to raise about $23 million from selling 1.88 billion new shares.
Maynilad Water, which counts Metro Pacific Investments and Japan’s Marubeni as shareholders, is aiming for an $858-million IPO in July.
In India, more IPO plans are taking shape. Manipal Hospitals has reportedly appointed bankers for its listing, while Zetwerk and Pine Labs are understood to be targeting a public market outing.
