RRJ on track for US$3.5b venture capital target

Investors have poured US$3.1 billion into the second fund launched by RRJ Capital, one of Asia's biggest venture capital firms, just US$400 million shy of the target it aims to amass by the end of March, according to chief executive Richard Ong.

RRJ, a Cayman Islands firm with offices in Singapore and Hong Kong, had already invested in Hong Kong children's wear retailer SKC Group and planned to help it expand in China, Europe and the United States, the Malaysian dealmaker said.

US and Canadian pension funds, Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds and prominent Asian funds contributed to RRJ's second fund and its first fund of US$2.3 billion, Ong said.

He declined to say if Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek was among the contributors. His brother, Charles Ong, left his post as a Temasek senior managing director to join RRJ as co-chairman and co-chief executive last year.

"Our focus is investing in China and the consumer sector. We are looking at the food, health and consumer sectors," Richard Ong said.

RRJ completed its acquisition last week of 75 per cent of SKC, which owns the Kingkow children's clothing brand, Ong said, declining to reveal the investment amount.