This week, our reporters across Southeast Asia chased a flurry of deal developments.
From Indonesia, Aastha Maheshwari and Marsya Nabila reported that Ooredoo, the Qatar-based telecom group that jointly controls Indonesian telco Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, is learnt to be among the bidders seeking to acquire BDx Data Centres in a potential deal valued at around $1 billion. Meanwhile, US-listed data centre operator Equinix Inc is exploring fundraising options for its Malaysia business, including a potential sale of a minority stake in its Johor facility.
Our Singapore correspondent Pimfha Chan reported that CVC Capital Partners is said to be in advanced talks to invest in Tofusan, a Thailand-based soy milk producer; while Advantage Partners is in talks to invest in HCL Education Group, a Singapore-based Chinese tuition provider.
Beyond dealmaking, the week saw escalation in tensions over MSCI’s potential downgrade of Indonesia to standalone status. Former Indonesian trade minister Muhammad Lutfi accused Singapore’s Temasek and GIC of pressuring MSCI to propose the downgrade, prompting a strong reaction from the Singapore state investor calling the allegations “patently untrue”. President Prabowo Subianto also upped the ante by accusing MSCI of trying to “intimidate” Indonesia and said “the nation fears no one and will not be cowed.”
Moving onto the other headlines of the week:
Funding updates
Malaysian state fund-of-funds investor Jelawang Capital is said to have picked Singapore-based early- to growth-stage venture capital firm Sitara Capital and Malaysian growth equity firm Bintang Capital for its Emerging Managers’ Programme.
Pantheon has raised $6 billion for its latest global private equity secondaries fund, exceeding its $3.5-billion target, with significant commitments from new investors in Asia and the Middle East.
Global healthcare investment firm OrbiMed has raised about $1.05 billion for its sixth Asia-focused healthcare private equity fund, according to a US regulatory filing.
Temasek has invested an undisclosed amount in the Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT, as an early and key investor.
Ascertis Credit, an India- and Southeast Asia-focused performing private credit platform, has crossed $700 million in commitments for its fourth fund that is targeting a corpus of about $1 billion.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is considering an equity investment of up to $100 million in Macquarie Asia-Pacific Infrastructure Fund 4 (MAIF4).
Indonesia-listed integrated energy company TBS Energi Utama has secured an investment of up to S$555 million ($434.34 million) from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock-owned HPS Investment Partners, to expand its waste management business across Asia.
Indian integrated managed care provider Even Healthcare has raised $50 million in a Series B funding round led by existing investor Khosla Ventures, with participation from Alpha Wave.
Salmon Group Ltd, a credit-focused fintech based in the Philippines, is raising $140 million in capital through a mix of new commitment and public bonds.
Thailand’s Muangthai Capital has secured a $60-million loan from FinDev Canada to expand access to formal financing for women-owned micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly in rural communities.
The International Finance Corporation is considering extending a loan of up to $400 million to Malaysian banking group Affin Bank.
Singapore’s Keppel will sell a 51% stake in K-Commercial, the entity that owns the Keppel South Central office building, to Keppel REIT for about S$611 million (477.42 million).
Neolix Technologies, the Chinese developer of Robovan, is raising nearly $400 million in a Series E funding round as it seeks to expand overseas and scale commercial operations.
Private Infrastructure Development Group has exited its stake in Vietnamese electric motorbike maker Dat Bike, held through its project development arm InfraCo, following the redemption of a $4-million convertible note.
A group of investors, including Premji Invest, Norwest and Lok Capital, have invested up to Rs 1,000 crore ($106 million) in Vegafin, an MSME lending platform led by ICICI Bank executive Bijith Bhaskar.
IPOs & markets
Jio Platforms’ $3.2-billion IPO was fully subscribed in less than two hours of public bidding on Wednesday, as investors flocked to India’s largest share sale and the first from billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance in two decades.
Peak XV Partners and Accel India-backed Zetwerk Manufacturing Businesses’ $518-million initial public offering was fully subscribed on the last day for bids on Monday, exchange data showed, led by demand from qualified institutional buyers.
Mynt, the parent of Philippine fintech giant GCash, closed flat at its offer price of 6.60 pesos apiece on its stock market debut on Tuesday (Oct. 20), turning attention to how the company will sustain growth at a valuation of approximately 442 billion pesos ($7 billion). The shares climbed as much as 2.4% to 6.76 pesos during the day before surrendering their gains.
Singapore-headquartered tech conglomerate Sea Limited is planning a public listing for its financial services arm Monee and will also launch an AI enterprise platform business.
Chinese electronics components maker Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing is seeking to raise up to HK$10.67 ($1.36 billion) in a Hong Kong listing, according to a regulatory filing.
Malaysia’s CIMB Group Holdings is considering taking its Indonesian subsidiary PT Bank CIMB Niaga private, as the banking group weighs options to meet Indonesia’s minimum public shareholding requirements amid weak equity market conditions.
Interviews & deep dives
Secondaries are generating interest among Carlyle’s private bank partners and their clients, with the firm expecting the asset class to attract further interest as the market grows, according to Brad McCarthy, Managing Director and Head of Asia-Pacific for Carlyle Global Wealth.
Drew Chen, a founding member of Bain Capital’s private equity team in the Asia-Pacific region, spoke to DealStreetAsia on a wide range of topics before stepping down to join Bain Capital-owned Bridge Data Centres (BDC) from November 1 as co-CEO.
Private equity investors are doubling down on India’s long-term growth story despite the overall global uncertainty, with investment value touching its highest level so far this year in the July-September quarter.
Private funding for Southeast Asia’s digital applications sector has stabilised at about $8 billion annually, according to the 11th e-Conomy SEA report by Google, Temasek, and Bain & Co. Companies with core AI products captured 80% of private funding deal value of $3.2 billion in the first half of 2026, up from 30% in the second half of 2024, highlighting the growing concentration of investment in AI-related businesses.
Limited partners remain committed to private markets but face mounting liquidity constraints as slow distributions weigh on capital deployment, even as investors see opportunities in infrastructure and secondaries, according to a survey by Goldman Sachs Alternatives.
Blackstone sees growing opportunities to finance artificial intelligence infrastructure, from chips and computing equipment to power generation and data centres, as technology companies face enormous capital requirements to expand computing capacity.
