RRJ seeks US$4B for fund
It and CDH Investments aim to top up size of their funds focused on Asia
NEW YORK: RRJ Capital Ltd and CDH Investments Fund Management Co are seeking to top the size of their previous Asia private-equity funds as they begin new efforts to raise capital, according to potential investors.
RRJ Capital, led by former goldman Sachs Group Inc executive Richard Ong, would seek Us$4bil for a fund that would be one of the largest focused on Asia, said two prospective clients, who asked not to be named because the fundraising has not been publicly announced.
Beijing-based CDH planned to seek Us$2bil for its next China fund, at least a third more than its predecessor, said two other investors.
KKR & Co and TPG Capital are among private-equity managers amassing multi-billion dollar funds as firms compete to capitalise on Asia’s growth. KKR, based in New York, is seeking as much as Us$6bil and TPG Capital in Fort Worth, Texas, wants as much as Us$5bil.
Fifty-three pan-asia funds are attempting to raise a total Us$22.3bil to invest exclusively in the region, according to data from Preqin Ltd, a London-based research firm.
There are 407 funds focused, like RRJ, primarily on the region that are targeting Us$149bil, Preqin’s data show. Of those, 272 funds seeking Us$90.2bil are based in Asia.
RRJ Capital, based in Hong Kong and Singapore, raised Us$2.3bil for its debut fund established in march 2011. That fund was about 60% invested, one of the investors said, with stakes in Chinese diaper maker AAB Commodities Co and Clean Energy Fuels Corp, a Us-based provider of natural gas fuel for transportation.
RRJ Capital would start gathering the next fund in the second half of the year, the investors said. The firm’s 20-person team had 13 investment professionals, one of the prospective clients said. They include Richard’s brother, Charles Ong, who left his post in January as senior managing director of special projects at Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund.
The second RRJ Capital fund would be split evenly between traditional private-equity assets and more liquid deals such as private investments in public equities, or PIPES, the people said. It would target opportunities in China and SouthEast Asia, one of them said.
CDH is seeking more than the Us$1.46bil its prior fund, CDH Fund IV, raised in the first half of 2010. The firm would start officially marketing the fund in the second half of the year. It may raise as much as Us$2.5bil, one investor said.