Azalea closes Altrium private equity fund II at US$805m

AZALEA Investment Management has closed its Altrium II fund, under its flagship private equity (PE) fund of funds product, at US$805 million on Dec 23.

Altrium II allows accredited investors direct equity participation in a diversified portfolio of PE funds across the US, Europe and Asia. It received capital commitments from pensions, foundations, insurers, family offices and high-net-worth individuals, Azalea said in a Tuesday (Jan 4) press release.

The launch of Altrium II follows Azalea's inaugural Altrium I fund of US$650 million in 2019. This represents "a continuation of Azalea's mandate to broaden investors' access to PE and is designed to overcome the challenges of investing in PE funds", the investment manager said.

Margaret Lui, chief executive of Azalea, said that the firm saw strong interest from new investors as well as Altrium I backers. "This is testament to PE's growing popularity as investors seek to diversify their existing portfolios with longer term investments," she added.

"The Altrium programme empowers investors to build up meaningful exposure to private equity and we look forward to launching more quality PE products in 2022."

Chue En Yaw, chief investment officer of Azalea, said that investors were also attracted by Altrium's low minimum commitment, shorter investment tenure and efficient capital management.

Temasek-linked Azalea is also behind the Astrea PE bonds, which provide retail investors exposure to the asset class through bonds backed by diversified portfolios of PE funds. The latest series was Astrea VI in March 2021.