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Asia Alternatives raises $950 million for fund of funds

The private equity fundÆs main focus will be top performers in Greater China, Japan, Korea and India.
Asia Alternatives, a private equity fund-of-funds firm, has closed its Asia Alternatives Capital Partners II (AACP II) portfolio with $950 million of committed capital, more than the original target of $850 million.

The AACP II is the successor fund to Asia Alternatives Capital Partners (AACP I), which has $515 million of committed capital and closed in May 2007.

Asia Alternatives is based in Hong Kong and has a staff of 19 people. The firm was founded in 2006 by Melissa Ma, Laure Wang and Rebecca Xu.

The institutional and strategic individual investors in the (AACP II) fund represent a global pool of private capital sources including state 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 (CalPERS), New York State Common Retirement Fund, OHIM Asia Investors, Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, private equity firm founder F. Warren Hellman, and venture capitalist Arthur Rock. The majority of the capital raised for AACP II came from existing investors in AACP I.

The latest fund is focused on building 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. Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand will also be considered on an opportunistic basis. Across AACP I and AACP II, Asia Alternatives is invested in 12 countries in Asia.

The firm has a proprietary database of local fund managers in these markets. To date, the firm has reviewed and continues to track over 600 Asia-focused private equity managers.

ôWe continue to see a tremendous number of opportunities in the Asian private equity space, especially given the current economic environment,ö says Melissa Ma, co-founder and managing director of Asia Alternatives.

AACP II will continue to employ Asia AlternativesÆ investment strategy of leveraging its local presence and knowledge to identify investment opportunities.

"Gaining access to new markets is vital to the fund's diversification strategy," says New York State comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, sole trustee of New York's $153.9 billion Common Retirement Fund.

CP Eaton Partners acted as exclusive placement agent for Asia Alternatives and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman served as legal counsel.
¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.
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