Carlyle passes $1b mark on fourth Asia buyout fund

Carlyle Asia Partners IV launched in May of last year. If the target is reached within the desired timeframe then the fundraising process would be quicker than that of its predecessor, which closed at $2.55 billion in April 2010 after about two years in the market. However, Carlyle's progress suggests investor appetite for pan-regional funds is bifurcating. 

The fundraising environment is challenging, with $46.8 billion committed to Asia-focused vehicles in 2012, down 35.8% year-on-year. There is a flight to quality among LPs who are investing more in proven managers while being generally less willing to back first-time GPs.

The global buyout firms occupy a different category: their brand names command a degree of loyalty and they have large IR teams capable of covering the entire globe. Nevertheless, fundraising is no cakewalk.

While KKR is expected to announce a final close of $6 billion on its second Asia fund imminently, TPG Capital is said to be on about $1.5 billion for its sixth regional vehicle, having launched shortly before KKR in April 2012. AVCJ was previously informed that the private equity firm still plans on reaching a final close of $4 billion by year-end.

Bain Capital took just over a year to accumulate $2.3 billion for its second Asia fund, which closed in July of last year and Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia took less than six months to reach a first close of $750 million on its fourth vehicle, which launched last summer and has a full target of around $1.5 billion.

Of the large pan-regional firms currently in the market, both MBK Partners and Affinity Equity Partners were quick to announce first closes. North Asia-focused MBK is looking for $2.25 billion for its third fund and had received commitments of $1.25 billion within two months - a significant portion of the capital said to have come from anchor investors including Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Affinity Equity Partners took less than five months to reach a first close of $1.5 billion on its fourth Asia fund, which has a hard cap of $3.5 billion.

Carlyle differs from many of its counterparts in that its Asia coverage incorporates multiple private equity strategies - in addition to the buyout fund, there is a a separate Asia growth fund, a renminbi-denominated vehicle and a dedicated Japan fund.

David Rubenstein, the private equity firm's CEO, said in February that preliminary talks had begun with investors for a third Japan fund - Fund II raised JPY215 billion ($2.2 billion) in 2006, although the corpus was subsequently reduced to JPY165.6 billion - stressing there were no plans to merge with the Asia vehicle.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Fundraising
• Australasia
• South Asia
• Southeast Asia
• Buyout
• Asia
• Fundraising
• The Carlyle Group
• buyout