Firms & Funds

Pennsylvania PSERS mulls re-up to Bain’s fourth Asia fund

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Bain Capital, Pennsylvania PSERS, pension fund, private equity, Asia
A participant walks past a poster at the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong Jan. 20, 2010. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
  • Assets under management: $56 bln
  • Private markets allocation: 14.2 pct
  • Whom to contact: Evelyn Tatkovski Williams ( evwilliams@pa.gov)
  • Why this is important: LP commitment to Bain Capital set to exceed $500 million

Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System is mulling a re-up to Bain Capital’s fourth Asia fund, its October meeting agenda said.

Bain Capital is targeting $4 billion for this fund, Reuters reported in April.

The pension system committed $480 million to four Bain funds over the years.

PA PSERS committed $130 million to Bain’s third Asia fund, which closed in 2015 at its $3 billion hard cap. Bain’s third Asia fund produced an internal rate of return of 105.21 percent and a multiple of 1.64x as of Sept 30, 2017, documents said.

The pension pledged $100 million to Bain’s second Asia fund, which closed in 2012 at $2.3 billion. The fund produced an IRR of 24.68 percent and a multiple of 1.85x as of Sept 30, 2017, documents said.

And PA SERS committed $100 million to Bain’s 11th flagship fund, which closed in 2014 at $7.3 billion, and $150 million to Bain’s 12th fund, which closed last year at $9.4 billion.

Bain’s 11th fund produced a 25.06 percent IRR and a multiple of 1.36x, documents said.

Not much is known about Bain’s Asia fourth-fund strategy, but Fund III expected to invest $100 million to $300 million in about 15 companies in Japan, Greater China, India, Australia and parts of Southeast Asia, PA PSERS documents said.

Bain expected to invest in industrial, consumer and retail, TMT, financial and business services, and healthcare, documents said.

Bain’s recent acquisitions include Asatsu-DK, Asia-Pacific Medical Group, Axis Bank, Bridge Data Centres, Hugel, World Wide Packaging and Toshiba Memory Corp.

Bain’s Asia fund is not the largest fund focused on the region. Hillhouse Capital Management’s fourth fund is expected to surpass KKR’s $9.3 billion fund raised last year. Carlyle Group raised $6.6 billion for Asia investment in June.

Action Item: Read more on PA PSERS PE portfolio here https://bit.ly/2E9JT0g