Hong Kong-based Asia Alternatives, an independent manager of private equity funds of funds, has announced the final close of Asia Alternatives Capital Partners II, with USD950m million of committed capital.

The fund, which closed significantly above its original target of USD850m and was oversubscribed, is the successor fund to Asia Alternatives Capital Partners, which closed in May last year with USD515m in committed capital. C.P. Eaton Partners acted as exclusive placement agent for Asia Alternatives and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman served as legal counsel.

Asia Alternatives was founded in 2006 by Melissa Ma, a former director at Hellman & Friedman, Laure Wang, former general partner of Pacific Venture Partners, and Rebecca Xu, previously a senior investment officer leading Asia fund investing at the International Finance Corporation.

Asia Alternatives has a team of 19 people, which the firm says is one of the largest solely dedicated to making Asia private equity fund investments, at offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and San Francisco.

The institutional and individual investors in the fund represent a global pool of private capital sources and includes public and corporate pension funds, foundations, university endowments, insurance companies and family offices in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia.

They include the California Institute of Technology, California Public Employees' Retirement System, New York State Common Retirement Fund, OHIM Asia Investors (an affiliate of Oak Hill Investment Management), Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, F. Warren Hellman (founder of private equity firm Hellman & Friedman) and venture capitalist Arthur Rock.

 The vast majority of the capital raised for Asia Alternatives Capital Partners II came from existing investors in the first fund. 'We are honoured that the overwhelming majority of our initial limited partners invested in our second fund and we greatly appreciate their continued support,' says Asia Alternatives managing director Ma.

The fund aims to build a diversified portfolio with an emphasis on top-performing local Asian fund managers. Its primary geographic focus will include greater China, Japan, Korea and India, with south-east Asia, Australia and New Zealand also considered on an opportunistic basis.

Between the two funds, Asia Alternatives is invested in 12 countries across the region through strategies including buyout, growth and expansion, venture capital and special situations. The firm has a proprietary database that enables it to track more than 600 Asia-focused private equity managers.

'We continue to see a tremendous number of opportunities in the Asian private equity space, especially given the current economic environment,' Ma says. 'AACP II will continue to employ our successful investment strategy of leveraging our local presence and knowledge to identify attractive investment opportunities for our investors effectively and efficiently.'

Jesus Arguelles of CalPERS says: 'We are very excited to continue our partnership with Asia Alternatives. As a result of their direct experience working in Asia as well as their deep industry relationships and expertise, the team is very in tune with the local markets and provides additional insight into the ever-changing investment landscape in the region.'

New York state comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, sole trustee of New York's USD153.9bn Common Retirement Fund, says: 'Gaining access to new markets is vital to the fund's diversification strategy. Asia Alternatives has a proven track record in the market and gives our fund an excellent opportunity to grow our presence in the Asian private equity space.'

       

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