Baring Asia receives $25m LP commitment from LACERS
The Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS) has committed $25 million to Baring Private Equity Asia’s seventh pan-regional fund, the same amount it committed to the GP’s previous vehicle.
Baring reached a first close of $4.5 billion on the fund in July, with a hard cap of $6.5 billion. Additional LPs include Los Angeles Fire & Police Pensions (LAFPP), which also committed $25 million to Fund VII after investing the same amount in the prior two funds.
LACERS had $16.9 billion in assets under management as of June 2018, according to its most recent quarterly performance report. Private equity deployment accounted for 10.3% of the total, against a 12% target allocation; the system also had 4.7% in private real estate and 4.6% in credit opportunities. The private equity program had delivered a 10-year IRR of 8.8% as of March 2018, with an IRR and multiple since inception of 11.2% and 1.5x, respectively.
LACERS’ other Asia-focused GP relationships include AION Capital Partners, Hony Capital Fund V, and GGV Capital’s latest venture capital vehicle, which closed last year at $1.88 billion.
Founded in 1997, Baring has more than $17 billion in committed capital, with offices in Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Singapore. It closed its sixth fund at $3.98 billion in 2015, and has also expanded its strategy to include a dedicated real estate fund and a credit-focused team in India.
The GP invests in companies with enterprise values between $300 million and $1.5 billion, seeking market leading companies across a range of sectors. It claims to have returned $7 billion to its LPs since inception, through 63 exits.
Recent activity by the firm includes an agreement in December to privatize Japan’s Pioneer Corporation for JPY102 billion ($905 million). Last year also saw Baring join Europe’s PAI Partners to acquire World Freight Company International, and team up with MBK Partners for Chinese car rental services business eHi Car Services.
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