It is December! As we get closer to the end of 2024, it is time to reflect on the year that went by. And it is time to start planning for the year ahead.
I recommend kickstarting the new year by joining leading industry decision-makers at the Indonesia PE-VC Summit 2025. With an assist from us, you can hang with the right cohorts and defy the status quo (if not gravity). Book your tickets now.
LP-GP updates
Singapore-based private equity (PE) firm Affirma Capital is looking to raise an India-dedicated fund with a target of about $350 million, DealStreetAsia has learnt. This will be its first vehicle focused solely on the country since its inception in 2019.
UK-based impact fund manager LeapFrog Investments has closed its fourth flagship fund with commitments and designated co-investments totalling $1.02 billion, surpassing its initial target of $1 billion.
BlackRock has a handshake deal to buy private credit group HPS Investment Partners, a global investment firm managing assets across debt, liquid credit, asset-based finance and real estate, according to a Financial Times report. The final deal value would be closer to $12 billion.
The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) has approved a commitment of up to $100 million to the ninth Asia buyout fund of Swedish investment house EQT Group.
China International Capital Corp (CICC) has launched its second fund-of-funds series with a capital pool of 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) to invest in homegrown tech innovations.
Former Peak XV Partners managing director Piyush Gupta has launched a new investment firm called Kenro Capital that will buy second-hand stakes in late-stage Indian and Southeast Asian startups.
China’s dual-currency early-stage venture investor Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC) co-founder and senior partner Jeffrey Lee said the firm’s LPs—mostly US endowments and foundations—believe that China allocation remains “a bright spot” in their overall portfolio.
Rising interest in private credit strategies dedicated to the Asia-Pacific region has paved the way for general partners (GP) to expand their product offerings through new fund franchises and acquiring stakes in their peers. We looked at the key themes in the space that have played out this year.
PE is under growing pressure from its limited partners (LPs) to return capital at a time when traditional exit options in the public and M&A markets remain daunting. As more fund managers scramble to obtain hard-earned liquidity, we analysed four M&A strategies executed to pave the way for exits in Southeast Asia as 2024 comes to a close.
Stellaris Venture Partners, an early-stage investment firm and backer of Indian unicorns Mamaearth and Glance, has closed its third fund at $300 million.
Asia-focused venture capital (VC) firm Gobi Partners has formed a strategic partnership with Japan-based Cross Capital to foster cross-border innovation and enhance the flow of Japanese investments into Southeast Asia’s startup landscape.
News from SE Asia
Logistics company GLP is considering a Hong Kong listing that could happen as early as next year, eight years after the Singapore-incorporated firm was taken private by an investor group, according to a Reuters report.
PT Daya Intiguna Yasa, a subsidiary of Malaysian home improvement company MR DIY, is planning to raise 4.7 trillion rupiah ($296.45 million) through an initial public offering (IPO) on the IDX.
Mynt, the operator of the Philippine digital wallet GCash, is not rushing to go public, said the chief executive of conglomerate Ayala, which has a stake in the company.
China’s Tencent Holdings has sold a 3% stake in the Indonesia-listed production house MD Entertainment for 302 billion rupiah ($19 million).
PT Griya MieSejati, which operates Indonesia’s oldest noodle restaurant chain Bakmi GM, is said to be exploring a strategic sale by selling a sizeable stake in a potential 2.1 trillion rupiah ($131.8 million) deal.
Indonesian P2P lending startup Amartha has acquired a 100% stake in PT Bosowa Multi Finance, a leasing company owned by local conglomerate Bosowa Group.
SGX-listed live streaming platform 17LIVE Group has acquired Japanese entertainment startup group mikai for an undisclosed amount.
Temasek-backed investment firm SeaTown Holdings has teamed up with Singaporean tech investor Lim Yuan En to launch enterprise technology services firm Skyform with a capital commitment of up to S$100 million (about $74 million).
Singapore-headquartered blockchain payments network Partior has closed its Series B funding round at $80 million after roping in Deutsche Bank as an investor.
Mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity in Vietnam saw a 46% year-on-year growth in the first nine months of 2024, reaching a transaction value of $3.2 billion, according to a KPMG report.
A multifaceted crisis at Indonesian P2P lending platform KoinWorks has caught the attention of the country’s financial services authority (OJK), which is demanding a capital injection from investors to strengthen the company’s position. The agency also said it will closely monitor the company’s new repayment structure with lenders.
Nikkei Asia spoke with YouTrip CEO Caecilia Chua on plans to take the fintech company public and expand its footprint beyond its current operations in Singapore and Thailand.
Tiki Global, the parent company of Vietnamese online marketplace Tiki, narrowed its net loss by nearly 30% in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2023, regulatory filings showed.
Nasdaq-listed Vietnamese EV maker VinFast earned $511.6 million in revenue in Q3 2024, up 49.3% year-on-year, resulting in an improvement in its path to profitability.
Dispatches from Greater China
A consortium including Starwood Capital Group and Warburg Pincus aims to finalise a deal to take ESR Group private in the coming weeks, valuing the Hong Kong-listed real estate fund manager at over $7 billion, per Reuters.
Although an America-first agenda by US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to be “materially negative” to other countries, particularly China, asset managers and financial advisers believe it is not all doom and gloom for the Chinese private market.
Chinese startups are increasingly struggling with demands from early-stage VC firms to return their investment or face lawsuits after failing to provide an exit via a market listing within an agreed time frame, industry executives said.
China’s Pony AI raised $260 million in a US listing that valued the robotaxi startup at around $4.55 billion, making it the latest firm to bank on improved investor sentiment in US markets.
Chinese biotech startup Allink Biotherapeutics, which counts Junshi Biosciences among its investors, has closed a $42-million Series A round to fund the global clinical studies of its pipeline products.
Updates from India
Indian food delivery major Zomato has received shareholder approval to raise about $101 million (Rs 8,500 crore) through a qualified institutional placement (QIP), according to its stock exchange filings.
Private capital investments in India have been witnessing a rebound this year, compared with the challenging fundraising environment in 2023. VCs that signed off on the most cheques this year include Venture Catalysts, Inflection Point Ventures, Blume Ventures, Peak XV Partners, Matrix Partners India, Accel and Anicut Capital.
Somerset Indus Capital Partners, a healthcare-focused Indian PE firm, anticipates that some of its portfolio companies will pursue M&A next year as consolidation gains momentum in the industry.
India’s Aster DM Healthcare will merge with Blackstone-backed hospital operator Quality Care India, bringing Aster closer to its larger rivals Apollo Hospitals and Manipal Hospitals.
FPL Technologies, an India-headquartered startup that offers credit cards to customers through its fintech firm OneCard, is reportedly raising $28.5 million in a bridge round.
Analyses and deep dives
Private funding for Southeast Asia’s logistics companies rebounded in 2024 after two years of decline, per the latest report from DealStreetAsia – DATA VANTAGE. Deal volume in the logistics sector increased 21.4% year over year in the first nine months of 2024, while deal value surged to $95.8 million.
Once a darling of investors, Southeast Asian tech startups have witnessed their coldest winter this year as late-stage funding dried up. The shift in the funding landscape has led to a new order in the regional tech markets.
Singapore-registered embattled e-commerce platform Qoo10′s liquidation filing has cast a shadow on nearly $360 million of investor capital since eBay’s 2018 exit, regulatory filings showed.
Indonesia’s digital banking landscape has undergone a sea change since the launch of the country’s first tech-based bank, Jenius, by BPTN in 2016. Eight years on, the jury is still out on whether the industry can build a sustainable business model that can, in time, generate consistent profits.
