Baird Capital enters southeast Asia with stake in Malaysian bereavement company
The US private equity firm’s investment in Malaysian death care provider Nirvana Asia marks its first deal in the region outside China
After a decade of investing in China, American private equity firm Baird Capital has made its first foray into southeast Asia, buying a stake in a Malaysian bereavement services company.
Baird Capital, which invests in small to mid-sized companies, said the region is increasingly attractive for minority investments and provides good exit opportunities for its portfolio companies.
Since 2007, it has primarily been investing in China where it has provided growth capital to companies like Kedu Healthcare, a medical equipment company, and Xinghe Valve, which makes valves for the oil and gas industry.
The Asian companies we are interested in are those that operate on a lower production-cost base compared to Europe
But in February Baird Capital made its maiden investment outside China, in Nirvana Asia, as its global US$310 million fund begins to deploy capital in the region. Nirvana, which offers burial and funeral services in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and China, was taken private in 2016 by CVC Capital Partners and delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The investment in Nirvana Asia was led by Andy Tse, who joined Baird Capital in January 2017 as a partner to help the private equity manager scout out investment opportunities in the technology and services sector in the region.
“Apart from direct investments, Asia also presents attractive follow-on investment opportunities for our existing portfolio companies in Europe,” said Tse. “We could be looking at acquiring similar companies in Asia as those in our European portfolio as a way to expand the latter’s businesses. The Asian companies we are interested in are those that operate on a lower production-cost base compared to Europe.”
He did not reveal the size of Baird Capital’s investment in Nirvana.