FountainVest Partners, a private equity firm focusing on the Chinese economy and associated region, has completed the final closing of its second fund, raising $1.35 billion, around 40 per cent more than the firm's first portfolio and beating its initial target of $1.25 billion.

The latest fund is called the FountainVest China Growth Capital Fund II. Money was drawn from existing investors into the business and some institutional investors, the firm said in a statement yesterday.

For Fund II, the firm plans to continue its focus on investing in companies that are “driving and that are benefitting from China’s transformational changes in terms of consumption, urbanisation, and sustainable development”, it said. FountainVest was founded in December 2007.

The global market for private equity fund-raising has remained mixed, according to figures issued on 1 October from Preqin, the research firm. It noted that there were 131 funds holding interim closes during the third quarter of this year, garnering $25.3 billion towards their aggregate fundraising targets. On average, funds closed between January and September this year took an average of 16.8 months to close; some 122 funds reached a final close in the third quarter, having raised an aggregate $64.1 billion. This is down from the previous quarter when 192 funds closed on a collective $83.3 billion.