We reported a string of high-stakes secondary deals this week, as the market gains momentum across Asia.
HarbourVest Partners is understood to be buying a portfolio of private fund stakes from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC in a secondary transaction valued at about $1 billion. The portfolio mainly has exposure to Asian private equity funds.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is in talks to invest in Primavera Capital Group’s new continuation fund that will hold stakes in ByteDance and Ant Group, with the TikTok owner being its largest exposure.
In another interesting move, Navis Capital Partners and Dymon Private Equity Asia have moved mature Asian portfolio companies into their latest funds, using remaining capital in the newer vehicles to continue backing the businesses.
Meanwhile, at DealStreetAsia’s Asia-PE-VC Summit 2026 in Singapore last week, panellists said Asia’s secondaries market is seeing a changing mix of sellers, with more corporations and family offices coming to market. The market is also becoming more segmented across Asia, with different exit environments and levels of maturity seen in China, Japan, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and India.
Scroll down for the other major headlines of the week:
LP-GP corner
Excelsior Capital Vietnam Partners has closed its second growth equity fund at more than $170 million. All of the firm’s existing LPs reupped in Fund II, which also saw participation from new investors, including family offices from the US and Europe.
Temasek is planning to open offices in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in the first half of 2027, subject to approvals, as it seeks investment and partnership opportunities across the Middle East.
Indian PE-VC firms have raised at least $6.8 billion so far this year, as 2026 appears to be on track to match 2024’s fundraising levels despite geopolitical uncertainties and renewed concentration of capital around AI.
Global port operator PSA International and Singapore-based Granite Asia have launched a $50-million fund to help scale global supply-chain innovation.
Deal updates
A unit of Tokyo-based SBI Holdings is understood to be in talks to participate in Indonesian payment infrastructure provider Durianpay’s new funding round, as Japanese investors continue to double down on the country’s fintech sector.
Regional private equity investors, including Mizuho Asia Partners, ReDefine Capital, Beacon Venture Capital and WG SVN Limited, have exited Vietnamese retail company Seedcom, according to regulatory filings.
KV Asia Capital is exiting the beauty and personal care company Victoria Care Indonesia by selling its 25% stake to the firm’s controlling shareholder for roughly $70 million.
Claypond Capital, the family investment office of Manipal Group chairman Ranjan Pai, is in talks to invest in Arcatron Mobility, a healthcare startup that makes wheelchairs and other mobility aids under its Frido brand.
Boost Holdings, the digital financial services arm of Malaysia’s Axiata Group Bhd, has secured a $20-million equity investment from the International Finance Corporation to help scale its lending business.
Singapore state investor Temasek has bought a 9% minority stake in the management company of Milan-based private equity group FSI and committed additional capital for future investments.
The International Finance Corporation is considering an investment of up to Rs 190 crore (about $20 million) in a Rs 2,500-crore ($260 million) bond issue by CleanMax Enviro Energy Solutions, a renewable energy company in India. It is also considering a loan of up to $500 million for Kotak Mahindra Bank to support the bank’s lending to farmers and finance tractor purchases.
Simple Energy, an Indian electric two-wheeler maker, has raised Rs 1,750 crore ($180 million) in an all-equity Series C round led by the Dr Arokiaswamy Velumani Family Office, along with Simple Energy founder and CEO Suhas Rajkumar and co-founder and CFO Ankit Gupta.
Linux Laboratories, an Indian formulations company, has raised $70 million from ChrysCapital, which picked up a significant minority stake; and Tata Capital Healthcare Fund III. Interestingly, the transaction provided a full exit to Tata Capital Healthcare Fund II at approximately 4x returns.
Finnish development financier and impact investor Finnfund has committed another $15 million to an investment vehicle of Aravest to provide follow-on growth capital to Singapore-based energy infrastructure platform August Energy.
Snapshots from Asia PE-VC Summit 2026
Indonesia’s capital market weakness does not fully reflect the country’s underlying investment picture as foreign direct investment continues to flow into the economy, said Indonesia Investment Authority CEO Oki Ramadhana. Investors looking only at capital market movements could miss opportunities in the wider economy, where infrastructure, manufacturing and other businesses continue to require capital, he said.
New pools of capital are emerging across Asia’s private markets as investors take a more strategic approach to back the region’s investment and capital markets ecosystems. The shift is broadening the region’s LP base, with the pool of potential investors extending beyond Asia too.
Diversification in Asia’s private credit market is becoming more deliberate, with managers taking a closer look at market size, risk pricing and the structures needed to protect downside while preserving upside.
As private credit increasingly gets packaged for private wealth portfolios, the focus has moved beyond creating access to retail investors and educating the market to how managers construct portfolios, design redemption mechanisms and build financing and operational infrastructure.
India’s private equity market is increasingly focusing on turning growth into exits and returns for limited partners, as fund managers face slower large exits and greater pressure to distribute capital. Public markets, private sales and continuation funds have become important routes for returning capital.
Institutional and family office investors said while Asia remains relevant to global portfolios, they are increasingly assessing individual markets, sectors and fund managers rather than treating the region as a single investment opportunity.
The Pension Fund of Japanese Corporations is looking to gradually increase its allocations to several Asian markets, with India, Southeast Asia and even China on its radar, Yoshi Kiguchi, the fund’s Chief Investment Officer, said during a fireside chat at the summit.
Southeast Asia is attracting billions of dollars to build the infrastructure behind artificial intelligence. Whether the region can turn that investment into technology companies of its own is a harder question.
Private equity firms in Southeast Asia are increasingly turning away from traditional auction processes to secure exits, with fund managers saying sellers must cultivate buyers directly and be willing to consider bilateral and more creative transactions.
