Asian direct secondaries private equity firm NewQuest Capital Partners has completed the final close of its third dedicated secondary fund, NewQuest Asia Fund III, L.P., at over US$540 million in total commitments, according to a company announcement.
A diverse group of pension funds, sovereign funds, insurers and financial institutions backed the fund, which had an original hard cap of US$520 million.
Investing in companies across emerging Asia, Fund III will focus on minority and control transactions of US$25 to US$75 million per company, and US$50 to US$250 million for portfolio acquisitions.
The final close of Fund III follows near full deployment of its second fund, NewQuest Asia Fund II, L.P., which held a final close in July 2014 with commitments of US$326M through two vehicles.
The latest fund comes at a time when private equity investors are increasingly seeking alternate ways to drive liquidity from their Asian portfolios.
"In addition to providing bespoke liquidity solutions to investors, NewQuest partners with incumbent management teams to assist them in achieving their long-term strategic objectives," says Darren Massara, managing partner of NewQuest.
Established in 2011, NewQuest currently manages three funds with aggregate capital commitments of over US$1.2 billion.
Since inception, NewQuest has acquired stakes in over 40 companies through both single asset and portfolio transactions.