L Catterton surpasses target for Asia Fund 3 – exclusive

L Catterton has surpassed the target of its latest Asia-focused growth fund in an initial close, Private Equity International has learned.

The Greenwich, Connecticut-headquartered firm has raised $1.29 billion for L Catterton Asia 3, according to a source familiar with the matter, on a target of $1.25 billion. It is understood that the fund has yet to hold its final close and will hold a close in the next few weeks.

Asia Fund 3 launched in June 2017, according to PEI data.

Predecessor fund L Capital Asia II, a 2013-vintage, raised $950 million, surpassing its $800 million target, according to PEI data. The 2009-vintage L Capital Asia fund was the first of two Asia-focused vehicles raised by L Capital, the European and Asian private equity operations of luxury fashion house LVMH and family-owned holding company Groupe Arnault.

Groupe Arnault owns Christian Dior, which in turn owns LVMH, according to its 2017 annual report.

In 2016, L Capital and sister entity L Real Estate merged with Catterton Partners, a North American and Latin American private equity firm, to create L Catterton. The firm is 60 percent owned by its partners and 40 percent jointly owned by LVMH and Groupe Arnault.

L Catterton ranked 43rd in the latest PEI 300 list of the world’s biggest private equity fundraisers ranked by five-year fundraising total, having raised $9.8 billion.

Last year, the firm conducted a GP-led secondaries process on its L Capital Asia fund because it wanted extra time to manage the remaining assets, sister publication Secondaries Investor reported. The firm hired advisor Evercore to run the process.

L Catterton declined to comment.

– Rod James and Adam Le contributed to this report.