The Fundraising Review is EMPEA’s annual overview of trends in fundraising among private equity funds dedicated to investments in the emerging markets of Asia, Central & Eastern Europe/Russia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

Emerging Markets PE Fundraising and Investment Review 2008

Private equity fundraising for emerging markets reached a record-breaking US$66.5 billion in 2008, bucking international trends and representing a 12% increase from the prior all-time high of US$59.2 billion in 2007. At the same time, PE investments fell by 5% to US$47.8 billion in 2008, compared to US$50.5 billion in 2007, suggesting a cautious approach to investment under turbulent valuation conditions.

In 2008, 210 funds achieved closes, 25% of which were by first-time funds that combined raised more than US$11.6 billion. Whereas in 2007 the bulk of fundraising occurred in the second half of the year, in 2008, fundraising began to weaken in 2H, reflecting the deepening of the global financial crisis. On a year-on-year basis, the first half of 2008 saw a 68% increase relative to 2007, while the second half of the year saw a 20% decline.

Investments remained fairly steady throughout 2008, with 755 deals roughly distributed across all four quarters, hovering around an average of 190 deals per quarter. However, the total amount invested in the second half of 2008 declined 20% in comparison to the first half of the year.   

The report (PDF) is available below for download.