Loke Wai San, founder and managing partner, Novo Tellus, speaks at DealStreetAsia’s Asia PE-VC Summit 2019

Among the six private equity funds that secured a final close in 2023, the only vehicle that exceeded its original target was Novo Tellus Fund III, managed by Singapore-based Novo Tellus Capital.

The remaining five (see table) fell short of their fundraising target, according to DealStreetAsia DATA VANTAGE‘s recent report Private Equity in SE Asia: H2 2023 Review.

Novo Tellus closed its third fund at $510 million in December 2023, surpassing its initial target by 36%. It reached the hard cap of its fund and closed the fundraising process within one year.

“The consistency of our investment strategy and our strong track record of generating proprietary deal opportunities with top quartile returns played important roles. I believe our ability to work with management teams to transform their businesses versus generating returns through de-leveraging differentiates our investment strategy,” said Wai San Loke, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Novo Tellus Capital Partners in an interaction with DealStreetAsia.

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The PE firm said all its existing limited partners (LPs) returned for Novo Tellus Fund III, alongside a set of new global LPs who joined the vehicle. The fund’s LPs include Singapore state investor Temasek and US endowment funds, pensions, foundations and several large family offices.

Novo Tellus primarily focuses on mid-market opportunities but will expand its cheque sizes from $25 million to $50-100 million for Fund 3 so that it can conduct more control deals.

The PE firm’s portfolio includes American semiconductor foundry Atomica; Singapore-headquartered high precision machining firm Grand Venture Technology; and SGX-listed industrial automation firm ISDN Holdings.

Edited excerpts of Wai San Loke’s interaction with DealStreetAsia:

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