Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, which was founded as Citicorp's European private equity arm in 1981, has raised nearly $2 billion to invest in Asia Pacific companies, creating the largest buyout fund in the region.

CVC, which launched a $750 million Asia Pacific fund in 2000, said it would look at companies in the more developed economies of Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
Around 75 per cent of the money for the new fund came from institutional investors and the rest from high net worth individuals. Over half of the total came from the United States.

Regional buyout opportunities are being driven by China's economic growth, economic restructuring in Southeast Asia and South Korea, the growing sophistication of regional debt markets and greater familiarity with management buyouts, CVC said.