Secondaries specialist TR Capital expands into Singapore

Paul Robine, the firm’s founder and CEO, cited both the investment opportunity in Southeast Asia and favourable policies introduced by Singapore intended to cement its position as a financial hub as reasons for establishing a presence in the country.

Private equity investment in Southeast Asia amounted to approximately USD 85bn between 2017 and 2021, more than twice the total for the prior five years, according to AVCJ Research. Much of this capital has focused on the technology sector, as evidenced by venture capital deployment rising fourfold. It accounted for USD 8.3bn out of the record USD 25bn put to work last year.

This corresponds to fundraising activity at the GP level. While commitments to private equity funds held steady over the two periods, venture capital surged from USD 3.3bn to USD 12.3bn. The number of managers achieving incremental or final closes more than doubled to approximately 200.

TR Capital, which concentrates on investments in the technology, consumer, and healthcare sectors, believes it is well-positioned to facilitate exits for investors in need of liquidity. The firm is currently deploying its fourth fund, which closed on USD 350m last year. There is typically a 50-50 split between fund restructurings and direct acquisitions of equity positions in companies.

“Our focus on secondaries comes at a critical time when many private equity firms are evaluating exiting assets, while institutional investors are also looking to rebalance their portfolios amidst an environment of highly volatile market conditions,” said Robine, in a statement. “Given our active investment style, we have always placed importance on having local offices on the ground run by strong local teams.”

TR Capital, which was established in 2007 and now has USD 1.2bn in assets under management, claims more offices than any other secondary private equity firm in the Asia ex-Japan region. The fourth office opened last year in Shenzhen. The firm has 30 investment professionals working out of these five locations.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Secondaries
• GPs
• Singapore
• TR Capital
• Secondaries