Bain Capital closes Asian fund at US$4.65b: source

Hong Kong

GLOBAL private equity firm Bain Capital LLC has closed its new Asia-focused fund at US$4.65 billion, a person with direct knowledge said on Tuesday, exceeding its target and adding to the region's already record-high dry powder.

Bain Capital raised US$4 billion from external investors, or limited partners, and US$650 million from itself and related parties, the source said on condition of anonymity as the information is confidential.

The firm, which had targeted to raise US$3.5-4 billion, declined to comment.

The fundraising comes at a time when Asia is flush with fresh capital. Since 2015, private equity firms have raised US$445 billion in new funds for the region, leading to a record of US$336 billion in dry powder - money committed but not yet invested - as at December, according to data provider Preqin.

Bain's new pan-Asia fund, its fourth and biggest to date, is still petite versus some of its global and regional peers.

Hillhouse Capital, an avid investor in China's biggest technology firms, closed its latest fund at US$10.6 billion in September. That is the largest in Asia, exceeding KKR & Co Inc's Asia-focused buyout fund that closed at US$9.3 billion June 2017.

Bain, which led the region's biggest ever private equity deal with the US$18 billion purchase of Toshiba's memory chip unit last year, typically invests in consumer, financial and business services, health care, industrials and technology sectors, according to a public investment memorandum of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS), one of the firm's limited partners.

The firm's third pan-Asia fund, which raised US$3 billion in 2016, saw a 60.9 per cent internal rate of return by end-June this year, according to the PSERS disclosure. REUTERS