Deal of the Year – Mid Cap (Equity commitment – $50-199 million)

ASG Eye Hospital (General Atlantic, Kedaara Capital)

Kedaara Capital and General Atlantic led an INR 15bn (USD 188m) funding round for Indian optometry chain ASG Eye Hospital in July 2022, facilitating an exit for Investcorp, which held a 15% stake. The deal was described as the largest in India’s eyecare industry and the largest-ever private equity investment in a local single specialty healthcare provider. ASG claims to have tripled revenue over the past three years, while the number of hospitals in its network has doubled to 50. The new capital will support development of an M&A pipeline that consolidates the company’s local position and enables regional expansion.

eFishery (Sequoia Capital India, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Temasek Holdings, Aqua-Spark, Go-Ventures, Northstar Group, Wavemaker Partners)

Temasek Holdings, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Sequoia Capital India led a USD 90m Series C round for Indonesian aquaculture technology start-up eFishery in January 2022. The company offers internet-of-things technology and a cloud-based dashboard to facilitate smart feeding systems, feed procurement, financing, and marketing efforts for fish and shrimp farmers. The technology is said to increase farmers’ production capacity by up to 26% while optimizing feed efficiency by up to 30% through reducing time and labour costs. EFishery has worked with more than 30,000 farmers to date and claims its network has grown tenfold since December 2020.

Energywith (Advantage Partners)

Advantage Partners completed a carve out of Japan-based Showa Denko Materials’ battery business in December 2021 at a reported enterprise value of JPY 60bn (USD 545m). Co-investors were part of the buyer consortium. It was a complex transaction involving entities across multiple jurisdictions. The company, now called Energywith, supplies lead-based batteries to automotive and industrial customers. Noting the environmentally friendly qualities of lead batteries, Advantage saw an opportunity to transform it into an energy storage solution provider with a wider set of applications. This includes launching products around electric vehicles and industrial players that want to use more clean energy.

Honour Lane Shipping (Nexus Point Capital)

Nexus Point Capital acquired a majority stake in Hong Kong-headquartered freight forwarder Honour Line Shipping (HLS) for an enterprise value of approximately USD 400m in May 2022. It sourced the deal through a combination of top-down research and leveraging industry networks, and then managed to convert an auction process into a bilateral negotiation despite other parties making higher bids. HLS is a non-vessel-operating common carrier that provides sea and air freight forwarding and other services to facilitate global shipments. Nexus Point’s value creation plan includes developing air freight forwarding and e-commerce channels, improving management and internal processes, digitalisation, and M&A.

Kopi Kenangan (Tybourne Capital Management, Alpha Wave Global, B Capital Group, Horizons Ventures, Kunlun)

Tybourne Capital Management led a USD 96m investment in Indonesian coffee shop chain Kopi Kenangan – described as the first tranche of a Series C round – in January 2022. The deal, which saw several existing investors re-up, valued the business at approximately USD 1bn. Kopi claims to be the first new-retail food and beverage unicorn to emerge from Southeast Asia. It was founded in 2017 to target a gap between high-priced international chains and instant coffee sold at street stalls. Customers using the app can opt for delivery of collect their order at one of some 600 stores across 45 cities.