KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — Private equity and venture capital industries chalked up total combined funds of RM16.08 billion in 2022 from RM14.83 billion in 2021, said the Securities Commission (SC).

At the end of 2022, private equity and venture capital industries chalked up a total committed funds under management of RM10.71 billion and RM5.37 billion, respectively, the SC said in its Annual Report 2022 released today.

Meanwhile, in 2021, private equity recorded a committed fund of RM9.65 billion whilst venture capital registered a fund of RM5.18 billion.

"For private equity, commitments are sourced largely from corporate investors (33.40 per cent), individuals and family offices (16.97 per cent), and financial institutions (12.78 per cent).

"For venture capital, government agencies and investment companies (36.01 per cent), sovereign wealth funds (27.27 per cent) and corporate investors (22.68 per cent) make up the top three sources of funding,” the SC said.

It further said that the top three registered corporations by the number of investor commitments as at end 2022 were Creador, Xeraya Capital Sdn Bhd, and Malaysia Venture Capital Management Bhd (Mavcap).

Venture capital investments in 2022 concentrated on growth (48.18 per cent), followed by early stage (36.53 per cent) and seed opportunities (10.54 per cent).

Private equity investments were primarily channelled into growth plays (64.87 per cent), with some investments made to early-stage opportunities (28.20 per cent), followed by bridge, mezzanine and pre-initial public offering (IPOs) investments (6.85 per cent).

"In total, 34 venture capital and 38 private equity deals were recorded in 2022,” it said.

In terms of target industries, medical and biotechnology (34.83 per cent) saw the highest share of venture capital investment in 2022, followed by information and communications (16.45 per cent), and financial and insurance/takaful activities (12.70 per cent)

As for private equity, investments were largely channelled to wholesale and retail trade (53.66 per cent) in 2022, followed by healthcare (13.45 per cent) and manufacturing (13.41 per cent).

Commenting about divestment in the private equity portfolio, the SC said the divestment activity in private equity portfolios during 2022 were mainly exits in the growth stage, while the majority of divestments in venture capital were early-stage positions, followed by growth.

While trade sales and secondary sales remain common routes for liquidity, 2022 saw several exits via IPOs.

On the industry participants, the total number of registered corporations stood at 129 as at Dec 31, 2022.

Meanwhile, the venture capital segment accounted for 109 registered corporations (venture capital management corporation and venture capital corporation, while the private equity segment consisted of 20 registered corporations (private equity management corporation (PEMC) and private equity corporation.

As at end 2022, the number of professionals employed by the industry with at least four years of experience stood at 229. — Bernama