KV Asia reaches first close of more than $100m

According to market sources, LPs participating in the first close include Adams Street Partners, Hermes GPE and Morgan Stanley.

KV was set up by Karam Butalia, former global head of Standard Chartered Private Equity, and Vibhav Panandiker, another SCPE alumnus, but more recently a managing Director with J.P. Morgan Private Capital Asia. They are executive chairman and CEO, respectively, at KV.

A flood of new mid-market Southeast Asia GPs have entered the market in the last 18 months, either focusing on Indonesia or placing the country at the heart of a wider regional strategy.

KV joins Capsquare Asia Partners and Falcon House Partners in successfully reaching a first close, while Creador is said to be nearing a final close. Other GPs in the market include Forte Capital, Mahanusa and Yawadwipa Companies.

Speaking to AVCJ earlier this year, Butalia highlighted the benefits of a pan-Southeast Asia approach. 

"Many PE firms look at the region from a country level but we look at how we can leverage this single market," he said. "When we invest in a company in Thailand, for example, we might want to use it as a platform to enter Laos, Cambodia and perhaps now Myanmar."

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• Southeast Asia
• Fundraising
• Southeast Asia
• India
• Indonesia