Azalea Investment Management Pte. Ltd (Azalea), an investment unit under Singapore state investor Temasek, announced Tuesday the successful closing of the second fund of its flagship private equity (PE) fund of funds product, Altrium Private Equity Fund II (Altrium II) at $805 million.
Altrium II capital commitments were from a diverse group of limited partners including pensions, foundations, insurers, family offices and high-net-worth individuals, Azalea said in a statement.
According to the statement, Altrium II is a PE fund of funds product that allows accredited investors direct equity participation in a quality, diversified portfolio of PE funds across the United States, Europe and Asia.
Launching two years after Azalea’s inaugural Altrium I of $650 million in 2019, it said that Altrium II represents a continuation of Azalea’s mandate to broaden investors’ access to PE and is designed to overcome the challenges of investing in PE funds.
“We are heartened by investors’ demand for the Altrium programme and their trust in the Azalea team,” said Margaret Lui, Chief Executive Officer of Azalea.
“At Azalea, we believe that PE is an attractive asset class and we have received strong interest from new investors as well as Altrium I investors. This is testament to PE’s growing popularity as investors seek to diversify their existing portfolios with longer term investments. The Altrium programme empowers investors to build up meaningful exposure to private equity and we look forward to launching more quality PE products in 2022,” he said.
Meanwhile, Azalea Chief Investment Officer Chue En Yaw said PE is traditionally difficult for individuals to access.
“Through Altrium, accredited investors are able to co-invest with Azalea and enjoy privileged access to strong performing PE fund managers globally. Investors were also attracted by Altrium’s unique investor-friendly product features, including low minimum commitment, shorter investment tenure and ensuring efficient capital management for investors,
“We will continue to innovate and launch more PE products that cater to different investors’ preferences,” he added.
In addition to Altrium, Azalea has developed other investment products with innovative features that enable investor access or exposure to private equity, including the Astrea PE bonds.
First launched in 2016, Astrea provides retail investors exposure to PE through bonds backed by diversified portfolios of PE funds. To date, Azalea has launched several series of Astrea PE bonds with Astrea VI being the latest in March 2021.
Azalea is the management arm of the Azalea Group, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Azalea Asset Management Pte. Ltd. Azalea is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Seviora Holdings which is in turn wholly-owned by Temasek.
The Azalea Group invests in PE funds, with a focus on the development and innovation of new investment platforms and products to make PE accessible to a broader group of investors.
One such innovation is the Altrium programme, which allows accredited investors to co-invest with Azalea and access strong performing PE fund managers globally, while at the same time helping investors overcome traditional challenges in accessing PE.
Besides Altrium, Azalea also sponsors and manages the Astrea Platform, a series of investment products based on diversified portfolios of PE funds. It represents a phased approach to develop products for long term minded Singapore retail investors to co-invest in PE with Azalea.
Started in 2006, there are six in the series to date, with Astrea VI being the latest addition to the Astrea Platform.
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