News: Baring Asia raises $ 490-m PE fund

(BL 12/09/2006) New Delhi - Baring Private Equity Asia Group announced that it has raised $ 490 million for a new Asian private equity fund, the `Baring Asia Private Equity Fund III', to target mid-sized companies in China, India, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan that need equity for expansion or management buy-outs.

The fund received a strong investor response and was nearly twice the size of its predecessor, Fund II. Following the closing, Baring Asia's funds under advisory now total over $ 1 billion in assets, a Baring release said.

The fund attracted investment from a wide range of institutional investors including Invesco, Deutsche Bank, Pantheon, SEDCO, Dow Employees' Pension Plan, Singapore's TIF Ventures, United Overseas Bank, Pennsylvania PSERS and the Kuwait Investment Office, it said.