Ares to buy Asia's Crescent Point

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The owners of Crescent Point will primarily receive shares in Ares subject to a multi-year lock-up.

Ares described it as an opportunity to capitalise on the strong growth prospects for dedicated Asia Pacific private equity strategies. “The expansion of our local capabilities will also strengthen our position as a creative solutions provider to management teams and sponsors in the market,” said Edwin Wong, the firm’s Asia head, in a statement.

Ares previously augmented its presence in credit and special situations in the region through the acquisition of SSG Capital, which at the time had USD 6.2bn in AUM. Wong was previously co-founder and managing partner at SSG.

Founded in 2003, Crescent Point spent more than a decade operating on a deal-by-deal basis with the support of a family office network. The firm then switched to a hybrid model, raising third-party blind pool capital and supplementing it with family contributions.

Crescent Point now has a team of approximately 50 based out of offices in Singapore, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. It invests in consumer businesses with market-leading positions, sustainable competitive advantages rooted in strong brands, unique products and services, and proprietary technologies, and above-average industry growth.

More than 50 investments and 31 full or partial monetisation events have been completed since inception.

Current portfolio companies include menswear brand GXG, online pharmacy player Jianke, and e-commerce enablers Lily & Beauty and Xingyun Group in China, logistics provider LBC Express and food and beverage player Del Monte in the Philippines, children’s media platform N Kid Group in Vietnam, and travel booking business Wego in Singapore.

“We look forward to joining Ares and we firmly believe that this combination will help further catalyze the growth of our business,” said David Hand, a managing partner at Crescent Point.

“As part of a leading global brand and scaled platform, we expect to realize several shared benefits that will support our ability to deliver attractive investment returns for our investors, including greater market intelligence and a broader set of local sponsor relationships.”

Ares had approximately USD 360bn in AUM across credit, private equity, and real assets globally as of March. Private equity is its smallest asset class with USD 34.6bn. Across all asset classes, the firm has 165 professionals working out of nine offices in Asia.

Latham & Watkins served as legal counsel to Ares on the deal, while Kirkland & Ellis and Milbank advised Crescent Point.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Greater China
• GPs
• Asia
• M&A
• Ares Management
• Crescent Point
• Singapore