India to remain top of the Asian pie for Advent

Mumbai: India will be the largest market for Advent International in Asia as the Boston based private equity group has successfully raised $30 billion for a new global buyout fund and a newer mid-market fund, beating the slowdown that has plagued several top tier funds this year.

"I believe this should be a good vintage of investing in India," said Shweta Jalan, Managing Partner. "There have been a few external headwinds for the economy, like oil price volatility and currency fluctuations, but on balance mid to long term, we genuinely believe this is a good place to invest."

In the last 19 years, since it's first investment, Advent has invested around $7.5 billion in the country, executing 23 investments in total across a range of sectors that includes banks, packaging, pharmaceuticals, tech services and lending.

Asia-Pacific now accounts for nearly a fifth of Advent's active portfolio by company count and around 17% of the total 109 billion of assets it currently manages. Its footprint in the region is also expanding. Since 2024, it has opened three new beach heads in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong. Jalan said the fund made its debut investment in Japan, a market that has seen a revival in dealmaking after a long hiatus, earlier this year. It has made 2 transactions in Australia in as many years.

Jalan is confident that with the new dry powder, the fund will be able to double down on all 5 key sectors it focuses on - pharma and healthcare, financial services, consumer, technology services and AI and finally industrials.

Within industrials, sub-sectors like chemicals, auto components and AI infrastructure have emerged as dominant themes.

"We have seen and endured several business cycles across India over the last two decades. Our underlying belief remains that India will sustain healthy GDP growth and our track record will help ensure India remains the biggest contributor to our Asia portfolio. Long term, this is a defensible growth story," added Jalan.

This calendar year has been among the firm's most active years for realizations. Year to date the firm has realised approximately $13 billion across 27 businesses. Some of its headline grabbing exits, also the biggest across the PE industry, include the sale of TK Elevator, alongside Cinven, to Kone Oyi for $34 billion, including debt. The buyout firm also took gas engine manufacturer Innio Holding GmbH public in a US IPO, as the company joined a slew of industrial companies looking to tap the surge in data-center spending. Rather than relying heavily on sponsor-to-sponsor transactions or initial public offerings, a large portion of exits involved sales to corporate strategic buyers, or to other PE groups.

"The trust our investors have placed in us in one of the most demanding fundraising environments reflects the consistency of our track record and our discipline in returning capital," said John Maldonado, Managing Partner, Advent. Maldonando is also the co-shair of the firm's Executive Committee.

Over 50% of commitments for the Advent funds came from public pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, alongside family offices, insurance companies, endowments and foundations, institutional fund managers and high-net-worth individuals. Over 80% came from existing investors. This makes them an outlier when limited partners have become increasingly choosy to back PE groups with funding commitments. Private equity funds, in particular, have been under siege by investors to return capital and sell more companies, many of which were bought at lofty valuations, during the Covid buyout frenzy of 2000-2022.

This in turn, has led to funds being forced to reconsider their fundraising plans or lower expectations for new funds as well as returns. Overpaying for companies has led to a massive backlog in the private equity industry on the exit side. Funds put deals on hold as sellers and buyers couldn't agree on prices, especially for the funds the firms bought during the Covid buyout frenzy.

The group has also deployed approximately $10 billion across 38 new and existing businesses. In India, it has deployed over $875 million (Rs 8,250 crore) across three transactions this year alone in Yatharth Hospitals, Iscon Balaji and Aditya Birla Housing Finance and launched a sale process to exit DFM Foods, a snack foods company it took private.

The firm, led by a group of managing partners including Maldonado and James Brocklebank, is known for its focus on buyouts. In India, however it has been flexible and have backed companies with growth equity as well as outright control transactions. For example, all its transactions in CY26 are for significant minority stakes.

The $3 billion Mid-Market Fund is Advent's first dedicated vehicle targeting smaller buyouts and growth investments with a focus on investing equity of $100 million to $350 million in companies with enterprise values of up to $1.25 billion primarily in North America and Europe.