Kuala Lumpur, X November 2019 – Kenanga Investors Berhad (“Kenanga Investors”) has launched Kenanga Global Unicorn 2 (“KGU2”, “the Fund”), the second tranche to the highly subscribed Kenanga Global Unicorn 1 (KGU1).
Similar to its predecessor, KGU2 aims to provide medium-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in the securities of globally recognised technology companies who have undergone transformational change from start-up to initial public offering (“IPO”) - ready entities, otherwise known as “unicorns. The Fund also targets to invest up to 10% of its remaining invested capital in equity securities of similar companies that have yet to reach the USD1billion valuation threshold, but will develop products, processes or services that provide or benefit from equivalent technology and innovations. The Fund will be feeding into the Ericsenz-K2 Global Unicorn Fund II (“Target Fund”) and has a targeted 12% internal rate of return per annum*.
The Target Fund is managed by Ericsenz Capital Pte. Ltd. (“Ericsenz”, “Target Fund Manager”), a venture capital and private equity firm licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, with more than a 100 years’ worth of collective experience in the technology, finance, venture capital, and legal industries.
Ericsenz will be working with K2 Global, who is the Target Fund Manager’s strategic advisor, tapping on the venture capital firm’s access to a wide selection of late-stage private tech companies located in Silicon Valley and other upcoming global tech hubs.
“With such a solid and collaborative network in place, we continue to pave the way for our clients to invest into dominant and disruptive players within the technology revolution that the global community currently resides in”, says Ismitz Matthew De Alwis, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kenanga Investors Berhad.
Surpassing its targeted fund size of USD20million by over 1.5x, KGU1 was a welcome addition, in contrast to the traditional asset management products that have saturated the Malaysian market. “The ability for most high growth tech driven platforms today to grow rapidly and sustainably has managed to maintain widespread consumer interest; hence its potential for continued growth makes for compelling investment opportunities”, said De Alwis, citing recent successful unicorn exits such as Beyond Meats, Spotify and Twilio, all of which delivered triple digit gains for early stage investors.
The fund house emphasized that the key to the performance of the Target Fund will be selection of the investments, where the Target Fund Manager is well placed to gain entry into these unicorns which are otherwise inaccessible to most investors. KGU2 is the latest in a long line of offerings by the fund house to continually provide alternative forms of investments to investors who wish to explore beyond what conventional asset managers have to offer.
The Fund is suitable for sophisticated investors who have medium to long-term investment horizons. It will be available in both MYR and USD classes which enables investors to invest in their preferred currency. The minimum investment amount is RM100,000 (MYR class) or USD25,000 (USD class).
*This is not a guaranteed return and it is only a measurement of the Fund's performance. The Fund may or may not achieve the 12% internal rate of return per annum in any particular financial year.
