Pantheon Ventures Closes F-o-F for Asia

With $100 million in commitments, Pantheon Ventures has closed its third fund-of-funds with a mandate to invest in private equity funds in Asia.

While Pantheon began investing in the region in 1983, it did not raise its first Asia fund-of-funds until 1993 when it closed Pantheon Asia Fund I with $66.5 million in capital commitments. That fund was followed in 1997 with Pantheon Asia Fund II, a $169 million fund-of-funds.

Like its predecessors, Pantheon Asia Fund III will invest in balanced-stage, Pan-Asian funds. “Our strategy is to be balanced – geographically, as well as across stage and sector,” says Laurie Wilson, a spokeswoman with the firm in San Francisco. The fund has already made a commitment to Walden International’s $1 billion Pacven V. Pantheon would not disclose the size of its investment. Pantheon has been an investor in Walden’s four previous Asian investment funds, and the new fund will likely invest in other long-standing Pantheon partnerships.

The firm has drawn on commitments from 11 institutional investors, mostly European corporate pension funds who are investors in Pantheon’s previous Asian fund-of-funds.

Pantheon Ventures is a global private equity investor, managing regionally specific fund-of-funds through its offices in Brussels, Hong Kong, London and San Francisco.

In the states, Pantheon is readying to raise Pantheon Global Secondary Fund II, which it expects to close with between $700 million and $800 million worth of capital within six to nine months.

Contact Carolina Braunschweig