Fundraising

Canadians back former Temasek executives

Fundraisers with solid track record in Asia may no longer need to go to the US for an extensive roadshow if the recent support by two Canadian pension plans for newly established FountainVest was illustrative.

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Ontario Teachers Pension Plan and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) are backing FountainVest, a China-focused private equity manager formed by executives that used to work together at the Singapore government's Temasek in Hong Kong and mainland China, according to a source.

The pension funds are each committing $200 million, and Temasek is understood to be committing $50 million, he said.

Currently fundraising, Fountainvest has a $700 million target and a hard cap of $750 million, the source said.

FountainVest is led by Frank Tang, Temasek’s dealmaker in China until his resignation in September last year.

At that time, Temasek had hinted it would be open to supporting the departing investment executives in their new venture. Tang had resigned along with a number of senior investment professionals responsible for Temasek’s China investments.

But Temasek is not putting all its eggs in one basket. It is reportedly committing $1 billion to Hopu Fund, which has a $2 billion target, and according to a source, attracting demand from Japan and a Canadian pension fund, but no firm commitments from the US thus far.