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Henderson Private Capital makes eighth Asian investment with Jubilant deal

Henderson Private Capital has invested $20.7m in Indian contract research and manufacturing business Jubilant Organosys, marking the firm's eighth transaction from its Asia fund. The firm has now invested $68m from the fund in the past 12 months and the fund is approximately two thirds invested.

Jubilant Organosys specialises in pharmaceuticals and speciality chemicals.

Sanjiv Kapur, head of private equity Asia for Henderson, said that the firm's success not just in making eight investments across the region but also in generating four exits from the fund demonstrated the extent to which the market has evolved in recent years.

'The Asian private equity market has matured and now Asia's investment issues are not that different from investment issues elsewhere,' he told AltAssets in an interview.

Kapur said that the outlook for Asian investments is good: 'Asia is a dynamic growth market at the moment, with China and India serving as the major drivers for the growth in the world economy, both as consumers and manufacturers. The consumer boom in these markets, along with the renaissance of companies in South East Asia and the recent restructuring of Korean and Taiwanese companies have created a very positive environment for us to do deals. There is a wealth of available opportunities at the moment and we are looking forward to maximising these in 2005.'

Henderson's strategy in Asia is based on minority investments. '[The companies] create the value of the business and they keep the lion share of their success. The idea is, you invest in the company you own,' Kapur explained.

Henderson Private Capital is the private equity operation of Henderson Global Investors and has €1bn under management. Henderson Asia Pacific Partners manages a $210m fund and typically invests an equity consideration of $10-30m in businesses looking for expansion capital or to finance MBOs or MBIs.

The main focus is on business process outsourcing, financial services, food and beverages, healthcare, information technology, logistics, manufacturing, media, retail and telecommunications. The fund's principal areas of operation are Australia, Greater China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.

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