Fund news in brief

Ardian (formerly known as AXA Private Equity) said that since September 2012, the firm has deployed $4.3 billion in secondary private equity investments with a total of 21 secondary transactions during the period. Ardian is a private investment company.

Brookfield Asset Management has held a final close at $7 billion on its Brookfield Infrastructure Fund II. Fund II will invest in infrastructure, with a focus on transportation, renewable power, utilities and energy assets in North and South America, Europe and Australasia. Brookfield beat its $5 billion target for the fund.

China Everbright Ltd and Catalyst Equity Management have agreed on a joint venture to establish a private equity fund that will invest in Israeli companies, Reuters reported.

The Swedish buyout shop EQT Partners AB has closed its EQT Credit II fund at 845 million euros ($1.2 billion), beating its 750 million euro target. Fund II had about 90 percent of existing investors in the first fund re-commit. About 55 percent of Fund II commitments were raised from the Nordic region, with 20 percent from the rest of Europe and 25 percent from the United States.

Hong Kong-based Gaw Capital Partners has closed its fourth China real estate fund, Gateway Real Estate Fund IV, at its hard cap of $1.025 billion. Fund IV is Gaw Capital’s largest investment vehicle.

GTIS Partners, a real estate private equity firm, has closed a $716 million residential real estate fund, which includes co-investment vehicles. New York-based GTIS Partners has now raised more than $3 billion since its launch in 2005.

IK Investment Partners has raised close to 1.4 billion euros ($1.9 billion) for its seventh fund. The pool’s investors include Alberta Teachers Retirement Fund, Dansk Vækstkapital, HarbourVest, Hermes, MetLife Investments Limited, Minnesota State Board of Investment, SL Capital Partners and Varma. Campbell Lutyens served as global placement agent. IK Investment Partners is a mid-market private equity firm focused on investing in Northern Continental Europe.

The Indian unit of JPMorgan Asset Management and Religare Invesco Asset Management Co Pvt Ltd separately filed with India’s markets regulator to start Europe-focused funds, as fund houses look to tap into rising investor interest in overseas assets, Reuters reported. Both JPMorgan and joint venture Religare Invesco would launch their products as fund of funds. JPMorgan’s India fund will invest into units of JPMorgan Funds – Europe Dynamic Fund, which was managing about $332.7 million in assets as of the end of September. The Religare fund will primarily invest in the units of Invesco Pan European Equity Fund, which manages about $2.01 billion, according to per Lipper data.

Maranon Capital has raised $330 million in its final close for its second credit fund. Leverage was provided via a loan arranged and agented by SunTrust Bank. Also, Maranon has named Anuj Aggarwal as an associate on the investment team and Aaron Simkovich as a controller to the firm operations team. Headquartered in Chicago, Maranon Capital provides senior financing, mezzanine debt and equity co-investments for private equity-backed and non-sponsored middle market transactions.

North Bridge Growth Equity has closed its second fund with more than $580 million of commitments. This brings North Bridge Growth Equity’s total capital under management to more than $1.1 billion.

NovaQuest Capital Management has closed its NovaQuest Pharma Opportunities Fund III at $459 million. Fund III is focused on providing structured finance solutions to biopharmaceutical companies. The NovaQuest team spun out of Quintiles Transnational Holdings in 2010.

Onex Credit Partners completed its fourth collateralized loan obligation offering in a transaction that raised $514 million, including $40 million from Onex. Onex Credit focuses on non-investment grade credit investing.

South Africa’s E. Oppenheimer family and Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings have set up a $300 million private equity fund to invest primarily in consumer goods and agricultural sectors across Africa.

OrbiMed has closed its OrbiMed Private Investments V at just more than $735 million, including $36 million from the GP. Fund V will invest in all stages and sectors of the healthcare industry, with a focus on biopharmaceutical, medical device and diagnostics companies in North American and Europe.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund has partnered with the Caisse des Dépôts International to launch the Russia-France Investment Fund. The fund will seek investments across a broad range of sectors and asset classes, including equity and debt securities, infrastructure and real estate in Russia and France.

Vopne Capital has launched its first fund with $20 million. The San Francisco-based firm is focused on acquisitions, recapitalizations and financings of companies in the lower middle market and businesses with EBITDA of $1 million to $5 million.