Navis makes first investment from Malaysian vehicle

According to the Southeast Asia-focused PE firm, the investment comes off the heels of Navis' completed fundraising process for the market-focused vehicle. Navis adds that Kinderdijk was an attractive target because it "has a proven track record of growing its stable of highly popular brands," including Mattel/Fisher Price, Crocs, Fred Perry and Mom's Care. With Navis as a backer, the company aims to continue opening new retail outlets and expand its brand distribution network to include labels such as Wrangler. "We believe that this investment by Navis will help propel us on our next phase of growth," Azlan Omry Bin Omar, Co-founder of Kinderdijk, said in a statement, which added that the lifestyle-product and baby-care segments in Malaysia are growing 2-to-3x GDP, paralleling Malaysia's strengthening middle class.

The firm did not disclose the size of its investment, though it noted that typical investment sizes from its MGO I vehicle range from RM15 million to RM50 million ($5 million to $16.5 million).

In terms of its recent fundraise, Navis also highlighted that it was earlier selected by Ekuiti Nasional Berha, a Malaysian government-backed PE firm, to "create the next generation of leading Malaysian companies, as an Outsourced Fund Manager under its Outsourced Program," and thus structured its MGO I around compatible growth capital investments.

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• Topics
• Consumer
• Southeast Asia
• Navis Management