Altair Capital, the Southeast Asian investment affiliate of Japanese buyout firm Polaris Capital Group, has announced the first close of its second fund.
In 2022, DealStreetAsia first reported that the private equity firm plans to raise its second fund and might look at raising $160-200 million for the vehicle.
The second fund will have the same strategy, focusing on SME buyout and significant minority transactions in the consumer, business services, and healthcare sectors within the ASEAN market.
Gary Ng, partner at Altair Capital, announced on Linkedin that the first fund is tracking at a gross MOIC of over 2x and net IRR of over 20%.
The maiden fund was closed at $100 million in December 2019.
Founded in 2017, Altair Capital is a Singapore-based investment firm that focuses on small- to mid-market investments across Southeast Asia.
Altair Capital invests in the range of $5 million to $30 million per deal. Focusing on smaller deals also gives Altair Capital room for valuation arbitrage, Ng told DealStreetAsia in an earlier interview, as such deals often do not go through an auction process and tend to be bilaterally negotiated.
“Competition for us is more from the strategic buyers than the local PE funds. But we have the advantage of being local and able to move faster than the strategic investors,” he said.
The private equity firm scored an exit from print media solutions provider PrintLab in 2019, generating over 50% IRR. Altair Capital had invested an undisclosed amount in PrintLab in 2017 and exited to Times Publishing, a Fraser & Neave company.
Asia’s private equity space has witnessed some significant fundraising developments recently. DealStreetAsia first reported that Malaysia-based private equity firm Creador has closed its sixth fund at $930 million, exceeding a $750-million target.
Creador increased the hard cap of the vehicle due to strong demand from both existing and new investors. Almost 95% of its limited partners (LPs) re-upped, while over $200 million worth of commitments came from new LPs, according to sources close to the company.
Mizuho Asia Partners, a Southeast Asia-focused investment arm of Japan’s Mizuho Corporate Bank, has closed its third private equity fund at about $320 million, a tad below its $350-million target. One of the rare final closes recorded in 2024 was Thailand-based 9Basil’s $127-million second fund.
DealStreetAsia reported in April last year that Dymon Asia Private Equity hit the market again for its fourth fund, targeting to raise $500 million, lower than its $650-million third vehicle.
Meanwhile, Tower Capital Asia is aiming higher for its next fundraising, planning to raise $500 million for its second fund, after closing the maiden vehicle at $379 million in 2022.
