Washington State to invest $300m in Affinity Fund IV
Affinity Equity Partners has secured a $300 million commitment for its fourth pan-Asia fund from Washington State Investment Board. It is three times the size of the US pension system’s investment in the GP’s previous vehicle.
Affinity Asia Pacific Fund IV, which launched in September and is targeting $3.5 billion, was one of two recommendations put to Washington State's private markets committee on February 7. It comes after Maine Public Employees' Retirement System disclosed in November that it would invest $30 million in the fund.
Washington State had $88.9 billion in assets under management as of year-end 2012, of which $16 billion was in private equity. Last year it committed $400 million to KKR's second Asia fund, having invested a similar amount in the GP's debut regional vehicle in 2007. Washington State also re-upped in FountainVest, pledging $150 million to the China-focused manager's second vehicle, following a $50 million commitment to Fund I.
Other Asia-focused portfolio GPs include CDH Investments and Unitas Capital.
Affinity's third fund, which closed in March 2007 at $2.8 billion after barely four months in the market, had delivered a money multiple of 1.4x and a net IRR of 15.71% by September 2012, according to Washington State's records.
The fundraising environment in Asia is tightening, with $18.98 billion raised in the second half of 2012, according to AVCJ Research. Only $46.8 billion was raised for the year in full, down 35.8% on 2011 and the lowest annual total since 2009.
Several global and regional buyout firms are currently in the market raising Asia funds, besides Affinity. KKR has still to announce a final close on its second pan-regional vehicle, said to be around $6 billion, while RRJ Capital has reportedly raised $3.5 billion for its second fund, having originally targeted up to $5 billion.
The Carlyle Group is seeking $3.5 billion and TPG Capital is looking for up to $4 billion, while both MBK Partners and Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia have reached first closes as they work towards targets of $2.25 billion and around $1.5 billion, respectively.
More on Fundraising
Latest News
Asian GPs slow implementation of ESG policies - survey
Asia-based private equity firms are assigning more dedicated resources to environment, social, and governance (ESG) programmes, but policy changes have slowed in the past 12 months, in part due to concerns raised internally and by LPs, according to a...
Singapore fintech start-up LXA gets $10m seed round
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has led a USD 10m seed round for Singapore’s LXA, a financial technology start-up launched by a former Asia senior executive at The Blackstone Group.
India's InCred announces $60m round, claims unicorn status
Indian non-bank lender InCred Financial Services said it has received INR 5bn (USD 60m) at a valuation of at least USD 1bn from unnamed investors including “a global private equity fund.”
Insight leads $50m round for Australia's Roller
Insight Partners has led a USD 50m round for Australia’s Roller, a venue management software provider specializing in family fun parks.