Samena launches second emerging markets principal investment fund
Samena Capital, the emerging markets specialist with which Genevan asset manager Reyl & Cie sealed a joint venture in April, is launching its second Special Situations fund with capacity of $700m.
Samena Capital, the emerging markets specialist with which Genevan asset manager Reyl & Cie sealed a joint venture in April, is launching its second Special Situations fund with capacity of $700m.
Samena Special Situations Fund II LP already received commitments filling half its capacity.
Samena derives its name from the three regions in which it makes principal investments – the sub-continent, Asia, Middle East and North Africa.
Its flagship, launched in 2008, recently exited some of its initial investments, including Indian vehicle maker Eicher Motors – an investment that made over five times the principal amount within two years. The fund already repaid 20% of its capital to investors.
The closed-ended SSSF II will have a life of seven years, building minority stakes in listed, mature companies with high quality management.
It will invest through strategic block purchases, pre-negotiated deals and by issuing preference shares.
V-Nee Yeh, a founding shareholder and chairman of Samena, said: “We are at an inflection point in the way different regions trade and invest with each other and Samena Capital’s shareholders have unrivalled access to, and understanding of, the most entrepreneurial businesses which benefit from that trend.
“The second fund…re-opens the old Silk Route along which ideas and wealth were traded between Europe and the SAMENA countries in previous generations.”
Samena manages about $400m across a range of close-ended fund structures and has regulated investment advisors in London and Hong Kong, and researchers in Bahrain.
