Fund News In Brief

Private equity firm Asia Alternatives said it has raised more than $1.5 billion in new funds to invest into fund managers across Asia, with around 75 percent of its existing investors committing to the new funds, underlining the continuing appetite for Asia growth, Reuters reported. Investors in the Asia Alternatives funds include state and corporate pension funds and insurance companies in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia, including Church Pension Fund, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., Oak Hill Investment Management and Pennsylvania State Employees Retirement System.

Catalyst Investors has held a final close of its third and largest fund fund, Catalyst Investors III, LP, with total commitments of $213 million. The firm says it will continue its strategy of investing growth equity in lower mid-market cloud computing, wireless infrastructure and digital media companies. Limited partners in the fund include Pathway Capital Management, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management and Liberty Mutual Insurance.

GGV Capital announced it has raised $625 million in combined U.S. and Chinese currency. The fund announcement came days after two regulatory filings indicated the firm had raised about $520 million for its fourth fund. The firm, which boasts 13 IPOs of its portfolio companies on U.S. and overseas exchanges since 2010, specializes in expansion stage deals in the United States and Asia. GPs include Jixun Foo, Jenny Lee, Hany Nada, Thomas Ng, Jeff Richards, Glenn Solomon and Fumin Zhuo.

Gridiron Capital, a middle-market private equity firm, has closed its second fund, Gridiron Capital Fund II LP, with $425 million in commitments. The firm will focus on buying controlling stakes in mid-market manufacturing, service and specialty consumer companies in the United States and Canada. The newest fund exceeded a target of $400 million, the firm said in a statement. Gridiron is based in New Canaan, Conn.

A unit of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has bought a 22 percent stake in CITIC Capital Holdings, linking one of the Middle East’s most powerful investors with one of China’s top investment funds, Reuters reported. While the sum Qatar is paying for the stake is likely in the tens of millions of dollars, the partnership could have a big impact globally, given the hundreds of billions of dollars in cash each fund has access to. CITIC manages $4.6 billion, but is partly owned by CIC, China’s own sovereign wealth fund, which manages $482 billion.

Transwestern Investment Management announced a first closing of Diversified International Partners, a private equity real estate fund. Transwestern is based in Houston. The fund will invest in income-producing properties in the top markets across the U.S. including office, industrial, retail and multifamily, the firm said. Finesa Real Estate Group, general partner of the fund, retained TIM as the exclusive investment manager responsible for acquisitions, asset management and disposition of the fund’s investments.

Versa Capital will seek to raise up to $850 million for a third fund, according to documents kept by the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System. The Philadelphia-based buyout firm will raise between $750 million and $850 million, according to pension system documents. Versa will continue to make mid-market investments with its next fund.