Deals

StepStone buys stake in Affinity Asia Pacific fund – exclusive

The private equity firm purchased a $30m stake from a Middle Eastern limited partner.

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Private equity firm StepStone purchased a $30 million stake in an Affinity Equity Partners’ fund at a single-digit discount, according to a source familiar with the transaction.

The transaction closed about two months ago. It’s not clear which specific Affinity fund StepStone purchased.

The seller was an undisclosed Middle Eastern limited partner.

Affinity Equity Partners is a pan-Asian firm focusing on buyouts and growth capital. It spun out of UBS Capital Asia Pacific in 2004 and raised its first independent fund, Affinity Asia Pacific Fund II, that same year with $700 million.

The firm raised Affinity Asia Pacific Fund III in 2007 with $2.8 billion, which has been fully invested as of October 2013, according to Secondaries Investor‘s sister publication, Private Equity International. Its fourth fund, Affinity Asia Pacific Fund IV, closed in 2014 with $3.8 billion.

StepStone has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Seoul among others.

StepStone declined to comment.