This week, KKR planted its flag in two dynamic areas of private equity at once. Its $1.4 billion acquisition of Arctos Partners marks its long-awaited entry into secondaries investing, and also gives it a foothold in the rapidly institutionalising world of professional sports.
Through Arctos, KKR inherits stakes in some of the world’s most recognisable teams—European football’s Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain; the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings; and the Aston Martin Formula 1 team, among others—and a springboard to build what it calls the ’KKR Solutions’ segment into a $100-billion-plus business spanning sports, GP solutions, and secondaries.
For KKR, that has spent years fielding questions about missing out on the secondaries boom, this is a decisive moment—choosing to start with a “blank sheet” rather than buying a mature secondaries franchise outright, as my colleague Pimfha Chan pointed out in an analysis.
The timing of the entry is also interesting. Only last week, we had reported on private equity firms circling teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals have drawn interest from global buyout giants, billionaires, and institutional investors.
Afterall, 2026 is a year packed with marquee global tournaments—the T20 World Cup in cricket kicked off yesterday and the FIFA World Cup is on the horizon. Sport is clearly both a spectacle and scalable business.
Here’s everything else that shaped the past week.
Market jitters in Indonesia
Indonesia’s stock market entered February under strain, sliding to its lowest level since mid-September 2025 as MSCI scrutiny, foreign outflows, leadership changes at key institutions, and rising state-linked capital activity unsettled investors. Authorities have responded with an eight-point reform agenda, including higher free float requirements, better disclosure of beneficial ownership, and stronger enforcement against manipulation.
In parallel, sovereign fund Danantara is weighing a stake in the Indonesia Stock Exchange once its long-planned demutualisation is completed, signalling a more active state role in shaping capital markets.
At DealStreetAsia’s Indonesia PE-VC Summit 2026 on Jan 29, investors struck a cautiously optimistic tone on Southeast Asia’s long-term fundamentals.
Southeast Asia continues to benefit from growth outpacing inflation and favourable demographics, particularly its young working-age population, creating strong foundations for consumption and capital formation, Asia Partners’ Nick Nash said at the Summit. However, he noted the region is underperforming in converting these tailwinds into large, technically driven technology champions, with only two next-generation internet firms among its top 35 listed companies.
India’s annual budget
India’s Union Budget 2026–27 focused on steady, long-term growth rather than big announcements. Key measures included a Rs 10,000-crore MSME Growth Fund, a top-up to the Self-Reliant India Fund, and higher investment limits for overseas Indians in listed equities to improve capital access and support small businesses.
The government also doubled down on strategic sectors, with incentives for semiconductors, AI, data centres, and biopharma, alongside manufacturing pushes such as rare earth corridors and chemical parks. While the roadmap aims to position India as a global production hub, investors noted the lack of deeper reforms to attract risk capital into innovation-led sectors.
Sunil Thakur, partner and head of South Asia at Quadria Capital wrote a guest column for us on the Budget’s impact on the healthcare sector. 3one4 Capital’s Pranav Pai also wrote on the impact of the budget on several sectors.
Meanwhile, Startup fundraising in India topped $1 billion in January after closing below the psychologically-important level in the previous two months, according to our monthly tracker. Deal volume, too, surged 45% MoM.
LP-GP news
For this week’s LP-View column we spoke to Doug Coulter, a partner at LGT Capital Partners, who said a sustained and prolonged stock market rally will be needed to meaningfully revive private equity interest in Asia. Coulter said if Hong Kong retains its position as the world’s top IPO venue in 2026 as well, it could begin to influence private equity investors’ confidence.
Singapore-based Tanglin Venture Partners, which backs startups in India and Southeast Asia, has raised capital for its third investment vehicle, according to its filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Tanglin had originally filed to raise $250 million for the vehicle, but its latest SEC filing shows the total offering amount for Fund III is $200 million.
IFC is considering investing up to $35 million in KV Asia Capital’s third growth equity fund, which is targeting $280 million and has already secured over half its commitments.
Hongkong Land has launched its first private real estate fund in Singapore, focused on prime office assets, marking a key step in its Asia commercial property strategy.
The IFC has proposed an investment of up to $100 million in PNB Housing Finance—India’s third-largest housing finance company. The loan will be used to expand the company’s affordable housing portfolio.
Abu Dhabi-based Shorooq Partners has launched a $200 million growth fund that will back technology companies in the Gulf and beyond as they prepare for public listings.
The IFC is proposing to invest the rupiah-equivalent of up to $350 million in Indonesian fixed broadband provider Link Net to help refinance debt and fund the internet provider’s nationwide fibre expansion.
TPG secured an additional $187 million for its debut mid-cap Asia developed markets private equity fund in Q4 2025, taking total commitments to $742 million. The TPG Emerging Companies Asia fund has deployed $134 million so far and began generating fees last year.
KKR is investing up to $416 million in the energy transition platform of Australia’s HMC Capital. The investment will support expansion of the platform, including the development of new battery storage and wind projects, as Australia steps up spending on battery storage and other assets needed to keep the power grid stable.
Ares Management secured $600 million in new capital commitments across its APAC private credit and private equity strategies in Q4 2025. Its seventh Asia special situations fund accounted for $400 million.
China-focused investment firm Capital Today is planning to wind down its long-running evergreen fund structure and return to raising traditional closed-ended funds.
People news
This week, we examined how high-profile partner departures at Peak XV exposed deeper cracks in India’s venture capital ecosystem. The exits of of managing director Ashish Agrawal and two other investors, Ishaan Mittal and Tejeshwi Sharma, reignited uncomfortable questions around transparency, accountability, and whether India’s venture capital ecosystem needs deeper reform.
In Singapore, police are charging the former CEO and director of digital health therapeutics unicorn Biofourmis for alleged “falsification of accounts and forgery”. In a statement, the police said the alleged offences were committed between August 2021 and April 2022. The police statement did not name the individual, but during the said period, the director and CEO of Biofourmis was Kuldeep Singh Rajput, who had co-founded the company in 2015, and stepped down in August 2023.
Funding and corporate news
Indonesia-based mobile café startup Jago Coffee has raised $12.5 million. BEENEXT Accelerate led the round with a $7-million investment, followed by Intudo Ventures at $3.5 million. The fundraising confirms DealStreetAsia’s November 2025 report that the company was in the market for fresh capital.
UK-based manager ICG is considering an exit from its five-year-old investment in Malaysia’s TF Value-Mart. The grocery retail chain was acquired by KV Asia Capital in 2016.
A consortium led by KKR and Singtel have agreed to pay $5.1 billion to take full control of data centre firm ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC). The purchase values the firm at about $10.9 billion.
CVC Capital Partners is understood to have begun exploring a stake divestment in the Indonesian industrial and medical gas producer Samator. CVC acquired a significant minority stake in Samator through its Asia V fund only in 2023—a sign that private equity sponsors are seeking an early start to exit plans.
Singapore-based PE firm Affirma Capital is investing about $35 million to acquire an Indonesian renewable energy platform operating utility-scale mini hydro and solar projects.
Temasek-linked Fullerton Fund Management has completed its first climate fund investment in Southeast Asia by backing Pyro Energie, a Thailand-based recycler of end-of-life tyres.
Indonesian fintech unicorn Flip is in advanced discussions with India’s Paytm for a potential strategic partnership to deepen its technological capabilities and accelerate its push into higher-margin financial services.
Vietnam’s healthcare sector is seeing rising private equity deal activity, driven by favourable demographics, growing demand for quality care, and renewed fundraising by firms such as Nhi Dong 315, Gene Solutions, and Buymed. Recent investments, M&As, and exits underscore momentum, though investors must navigate sector-specific risks including land-use and property regulations that could affect operations.
Meituan has agreed to buy the mainland China business of NYSE-listed fresh grocery e-commerce firm Dingdong for up to $717 million, making it an indirect wholly owned subsidiary. The deal follows intense competition in China’s food delivery market, marked by heavy subsidies and price wars involving Meituan, Alibaba’s Ele.me, and JD.com.
Chinese embodied intelligence startup LimX Dynamics has secured $200 million in a Series B funding round to fuel its business expansion in China and overseas.
Vingroup’s net profit more than doubled in 2025 to 11 trillion dong ($423 million) as record property sales and one-off gains offset losses at VinFast and other segments, while revenue rose 76% to 332 trillion dong.
Vietnam’s first tech unicorn VNG Group announced earnings for Q4 2025. Net revenue rose 34% year-on-year to 3.194 trillion Vietnamese dong ($122.7 million), while adjusted operating profit rose 38% to 139 billion dong ($5.3 million).
Online travel agent unicorn Traveloka, and crowdfunding platform Kitabisa, have reduced their workforce. The layoffs mostly affected the Indonesia staff of Traveloka, which shifted its base to Singapore last year. Meanwhile, Kitabisa’s layoffs will affect roughly 10% of its workforce.
That’s all for this week.
