Golden Equator to launch $200m SE Asia mezz fund

It coincides with the securing of a combined $90 million across two funds targeting publicly listed growth-stage companies from institutional and accredited investors in Singapore, Japan, and Korea. The firm, which launched an approximately $90 million Southeast Asia technology fund last year alongside Korea Investment Partners, said it could pursue “a few more” project funds while it prepares the launch of the new mezzanine vehicle.

“Asia has historically been a market financed by Western banks, but with these lenders scaling back in Asia in the last decade, the gap in the much-needed growth-financing for Asia’s emerging economies has been growing,” Jacob Jiwon Kim, a managing partner at Golden Equator Capital, said in a statement. “At the same time, there is a lot of capital in developed Asian markets such as Japan and Korea that’s looking for investments with stronger returns than their domestic markets.”

Founded in 2012, Golden Equator focuses on digital marketplaces, financial technology, and enterprise services, as well as areas related to healthcare and urban technology. In 2015, it raised S$40 million ($30 million) for a real estate fund and S$40 million for a separate technology fund. A second technology fund closed at S$100 million in 2017. Last year, the firm launched an accelerator in Brunei aimed at helping small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) expand across Southeast Asia.

Mezzanine financing has emerged as an increasingly attractive option for Asian SMEs whose growth has begun to outpace the speed at which traditional banks are able to offer support. Growth mezzanine strategies have proven challenging for investors, however, due to ongoing risks associated with the undeveloped nature of regional markets and the need for extensive on-the-ground networks to access attractive proprietary deals in these jurisdictions.  

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Growth
• Mezzanine
• Fundraising
• Singapore
• PIPE
• Technology
• SME