Global private equity (PE) major the Carlyle Group has closed its fund, Carlyle Asia Partners III (CAP III), raising $2.55 billion, which is over 40% larger than its earlier fund, Carlyle Asia Partners II. India is likely to get some major commitments from this fund, going by earlier instances.
According to Rajeev Gupta, managing director of The Carlyle Group in India, ?The closing of CAP III at $2.5 billion is an important milestone for Carlyle in India. Our previous fund made one of the largest private equity investments ever in India and we plan to continue this leadership.?
Carlyle Asia Partners III is the third ex-Japan Asia Pacific private equity fund advised by the Carlyle Asia Partners team, bringing the aggregate committed capital to more than $5 billion. The new fund has attracted commitments from large institutional investors from the US, Europe, the West Asia and Asia.
According to Preqin, a research house on private equity investments, nearly $50.4 billion was raised in the first quarter of 2010, which is 5% higher than the last quarter of 2009.
?As one of the few multi-billion dollar PE fund closings globally since the onset of the financial crisis, we are pleased with the level of support from investors, especially in this challenging fund-raising environment. It is an affirmation of our investment strategy and track record as well as the attractiveness of opportunities in the region,? said XD Yang, managing director and co-head of Carlyle Asia Partners.
Carlyle established its Asian PE operation in 1999, and Carlyle Asia Partners alone has made 21 investments in the region. ?We believe that 2010 is shaping up to be a very good year to make investments in Asia as the region bounces back strongly from the global economic crisis. We see strong investment opportunities across the entire region and look forward to investing with this significant pool of capital resources at this attractive time,? he added.
Over the last three years, Carlyle Asia Partners has recruited three senior operating partners to work as an integral part of its investment team. It has placed more than 40 senior executives into the portfolio companies over the years to strengthen their businesses.
Carlyle Group invests through a dedicated team of 40 local professionals across seven offices? Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. In India, Carlyle invested $650 million in HDFC in 2007.