Navis raises $1.3b for seventh Asia fund

Sources familiar with the situation told AVCJ that $1.2 billion has been raised and the impending "interim close" will not exceed $1.3 billion.

The Malaysia-headquartered GP reached a first close of $860 million in mid-December after less than three months in the market. It set an initial target of $1.3 billion with a hard cap of $1.5 billion.

While the new vehicle remains focused on mid-market buyouts, the geographical remit is narrower - still predominately Southeast Asia but, unlike the previous fund, not India. Navis raised $1.2 billion for its sixth fund in 2010 and $1 billion for Fund V three years before that.

Since 2000, Navis has made more than 60 investments, of which nearly 20 have been follow-on acquisitions. As of the third quarter of 2013, the private equity firm's Asia funds had generated a gross IRR of 34% and a money multiple of 3.3x on realized investments.

Its two most recent disclosed deals were the acquisition of a controlling interest in Hong Kong-based Amazon Papyrus Chemicals, which supplies chemicals to the paper and pulp industry, and the purchase of Australian childcare services provider Guardian Early Learning from Wolseley Private Equity for A$120 million ($110 million).

Nevertheless, Navis is most readily associated with Southeast Asia, which has emerged as a popular geography among LPs in recent years.

According to AVCJ Research, fundraising for Southeast Asia-focused vehicles - including regional players that invest throughout Asia such as KKR and more targeted GPs like Navis - came to $10.3 billion in 2013 and $10.9 billion the year before that. However, there are relatively few GPs of size that target Southeast Asia's mid-market buyout space.

Northstar Group is seeking just under $1 billion for a Southeast Asia vehicle while last year Southern Capital Group raised approximately $400 million for its third buyout fund, having narrowed the pan-regional coverage of its previous vehicles to focus on Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

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• Topics
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• Southeast Asia
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• Asia
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• Navis Management
• buyout
• Southeast Asia
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