Southeast Asian private equity firm Northstar Group on Wednesday announced the first closing of its USD 800 million “Northstar V” fund. According to an official statement, this first close counts approximately one third of the USD 800 million target which translates into around USD 266 million.
Northstar V has received strong backing from a diverse group of investors, including sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, institutional investors, family offices, and high net worth individuals. With the first close of the fifth fund, the Northstar Group now manages over USD 2 billion in assets.
Northstar said it will continue investing in mature growth companies, with selected investments in early-stage opportunities, in Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. The fund will focus on companies in key sectors like consumer, financial services, and industries that drive the growth of the digital economy and the recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.
Opportunities in Southeast Asia
Indonesia and other Southeast Asian markets offer a medium to long-term investment opportunity as they are poised to see continued significant growth, according to co-founder and managing partner Patrick Walujo. This growth is driven by demographics, increasing wealth and consumption, greater levels of education, and further digitization. “Successfully raising our fifth flagship fund during these unprecedented times is a testament to the group’s long-term ability to drive growth in our portfolio companies and create value for our investors,” Walujo said in a statement.
The Northstar Group was founded in 2003 by Patrick Walujo and Glenn Sugita, and it has invested in more than 30 companies across industries including banking, insurance, consumer, retail, manufacturing, oil and gas, coal, mining services, technology, telecom, and the agribusiness sector. Northstar was one of Gojek’s early investors. In 2016, the firm invested USD 550 million in the ride-hailing company. It has since then backed other tech companies such as Vietnam’s Topica Edtech Group and Indonesia’s Zenius Education. In total, Northstar has invested over USD 3 billion in Southeast Asia.