Warburg Pincus said on Thursday that it had closed a new fund to invest in China and Southeast Asia at $4.5 billion.
The company launched the fundraising in January this year, targeting a fund size of $3.5 billion. It exceeded its expectations within six months.
This is Warburg Pincus’ second fund with a main focus on China. The fund will invest alongside the company’s global fund.
The firm's first China-SEA fund raised $2.2 billion in 2016. It invested in some very successful companies in the region such as Ant Financial. All of the first fund investors participated in the second fund.
"We are pleased to announce the closing of our second companion fund focused on China and Southeast Asia," said Charles R. Kaye and Joseph P. Landy, co-chief executive officers of Warburg Pincus. "We have now invested more than $11 billion into more than 120 companies in China and Southeast Asia.”
The new fund intends to continue Warburg Pincus’ investment strategy and will have a special focus on projects in consumer, healthcare, financial, real estate and high-tech, according to Frank Wei, Warburg Pincus co-head of China.
Within those five sectors, Wei added that the company will focus its investment upstream and downstream of the supply chain. The firm will also expand the proportion of its investment in Southeast Asia.
The first half of 2019 was a little tough for private equity investment in China. “In general, the number of investments is less than same period last year,” one Chinese investment banker told FinanceAsia. “Oversea expansion is what funds are looking for right now.”
