Chart of the Week: Asia-Pacific Fundraising on the Rise

Click here for a larger version

Data from PERE Research & Analytics has revealed that Asia-Pacific fundraising had raised a total of $84.3 billion between 232 funds from 2008 to the first half of 2014. 2008 saw the highest amount of capital raised for the region with an aggregate size of $30 billion, accounting for 35 percent of total capital raised during the time period. However, due to the ripple effect of the financial crisis in 2008, fundraising had faced its lowest point in 2010, where $5.2 billion had been raised.

Since 2010, fundraising increased consistently each year for the region, with 2013 raising a total of $15.3 billion from 39 funds. This represents a nearly 200 percent increase from 2010, a 99 percent increase from 2011 and a 34 percent increase from 2012. One important point to draw from fundraising between 2013 and a year prior is that more capital had been raised through fewer funds. 2012 saw a close of two funds with an aggregate size greater than $1 billion while 2013 closed five funds above $1 billion, with all of them surpassing their targets. The largest Asia-Pacific fund in 2013 was the value-add Alpha Asia Macro Trends Fund II, managed by Alpha Investment Partners, which closed on $1.6 billion in June.

Despite the strong fundraising recovery for the region, 2014 may not continue the same upward trend. 13 funds had closed for Asia-Pacific funds so far in the first half of 2014, raising approximately $3.8 billion. This represents a nearly 50 percent decrease from a year prior where in H1 2013 a total of $6.65 billion had been raised. However, nearly every year between 2008 and 2013, the second half of the year had raised the most capital. While H1 2014 lacked any fund closings above $500 million for the region, H2 2014 could close on a very strong note. One fund in particular will create a significant boost in private real estate capital for the region. That fund being the Blackstone Real Estate Partners Asia, managed by The Blackstone Group, with a current size of $4.2 billion as of July 2014. The fund, which had a target of $4 billion and a hard-cap of $5 billion, had already broken the record as the largest private equity real estate fundraise for the region. The fund is expected to close in Q4 2014.