Private equity firm Carlyle Group LP is looking to raise its fifth Asian growth fund Carlyle Asia Growth Partners V, LP to back fast-growing companies across regions, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Although it did not disclose the target size of the fund, separate media reports said it is looking to raise around $1 billion or around the same amount it raised in its predecessor fund in 2009. Carlyle had raised $1.04 billion in July 2009 under Carlyle Asia Growth Partners IV, a sector-agnostic growth capital fund which invested in China, India, South Korea and other Asian markets.
This fund, which was raised over 14 months, was over 50% bigger than its predecessor.
Carlyle has two separate investment teams—one doing mid-market growth equity deals and the other chasing big-ticket or buyout deals in India. Both the teams invest out of the respective Asian funds.
Carlyle had closed its fourth Asian buyout fund Carlyle Asia Partners IV (CAP IV) in September 2014, scooping up $3.9 billion. This was the second-largest private equity fund ever raised for Asia investments.
With assets over $178 billion under management across 125 funds and 164 funds of funds, Carlyle has grown into one of the world's largest investment firms. It has 1,650 professionals and operates in 36 offices in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.
It typically invests between $5 million and $50 million for growth equity/venture investments and between $50 million and $1 billion for buyouts.
Last year, it invested in Metropolis Healthcare, DEE Piping besides Magna Energy in India-related deals. It also made some smart exits from IIFL Holdings, Claris Lifesciences and Elitecore Technologies.
Carlyle also saw a string of India-related management movements with Mahesh Parasuraman quitting a year ago to join Sunil Vasudevan, a former partner of India Value Fund Advisors (IVFA), to jointly run an independent growth capital investment firm Amicus.
In other developments, Sunil Kaul was elevated as head of Southeast Asia of its Asian buyouts advisory team. Early this year, it promoted Neeraj Bharadwaj, a managing director at its Mumbai office, as partner.
Bharadwaj, who looks after the Asia buyout fund out of Mumbai, was among the 43 professionals the PE firm promoted globally. The PE firm has two other managing directors in Mumbai—Shankar Narayanan and Devinjit Singh.
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