Warburg Pincus seeks $2b for China fund

The China companion fund and the global main fund are expected to invest a combined $4 billion in China. The GP plans to formally launch the new vehicle in June and to close the fund by December. The imminent fundraise was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and has since been confirmed to AVCJ by sources familiar with the situation. Warburg Pincus declined to comment.

The GP closed its latest global fund - Warburg Pincus Private Equity XII - in November last year, which seeks investments in companies at all stage of development. It targets businesses in a variety of sectors, including energy; financial services; healthcare and consumer; industrial and business services; and technology, media and telecom.

Asia accounted for one third of the firm's headcount and approximately one third of its last global fund, which closed in 2013 at $11.2 billion. China and India were the two largest places outside of the US where the firm invested, Charles R. Kaye, co-CEO of Warburg Pincus, told AVCJ in August last year. But he was non-committal when asked if the firm would consider raising an Asia-dedicated fund.

"We did have an international companion fund in the late 1990s when the firm had begun to invest more internationally. We have done it more recently last year with an energy companion fund, given the size and scale of the opportunity. But we have always liked the core diversified fund because it keeps the sense of risk and reward absolute," said Kaye.

The global fund enabled Warburg Pincus to be flexible in its response to changing opportunities across different industries, geographies and stages rather than be locked into a particular area when the investment environment is unfavorable, Kaye said at the time.

The GP closed its first global energy fund last year at the hard cap of $4 billion. That vehicle focuses on exploration and production assets in North America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. It also seeks investment opportunities in oil field services, mining and power.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Fundraising
• Growth
• China
• Warburg Pincus Asia
• Fundraising