Secondaries specialist NewQuest to seek $500m for Fund III
NewQuest Capital Partners, which targets secondary direct transactions across Asia, wants to raise $500 million for its third pan-regional fund.
The private equity firm closed its current fund in June 2014 at $316 million - exceeding the $300 million target - and AVCJ understands that vehicle is around 70% deployed. Fund III has yet to be formally launched.
NewQuest was created four years ago through the spin-out of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Asia private equity team. They took 21 private equity positions with them and raised a $400 million fund backed by HarbourVest Partners, Paul Capital, LGT Capital Partners and Axiom Asia.
HarbourVest and LGT returned for Fund II, and they were joined by an Asian sovereign wealth fund and an Asian pension fund, as well as LPs including fund-of-funds and family offices. There are said to be around 10 investors in total.
NewQuest's portfolio features China Hydroelectric, which was privatized last year after the GP acquired a majority stake in the business by acquiring interests from other investors. For the most part, the firm pursues single assets and multi-asset portfolios held by family offices, corporations, banks and hedge funds, as well as private equity firms.
GP sellers may be seeking to change strategy, leave a particular market or return capital to LPs in order to support a new fundraising process. They may also be under end-of-fund-life pressure and willing to offload un-exited assets in order to liquidate a fund.
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