SINGAPORE (July 22): Boutique fund manager ICH Gemini says on Wednesday that it has launched a private equity fund in Singapore with at least US$110 million in capital that it will invest in mid-sized companies at growing or mezzanine stages.

ICH Gemini's anchor sponsor and director, Ren Yuanlin, who is also chairman of mainboard-listed Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings, has committed US$100 million ($138 million) to the fund. The remaining US$10 million is from the fund manager's other two major sponsors - Vincent Toe Teow Heng, chief executive of ICH Gemini's parent ICH, and Xu Fan, a director at ICH.

In a statement, ICH Gemini says its "wide footprint" in China will provide its investment companies with "access to the booming Chinese capital markets" and offer them exit strategies via a public listing or trade sale.

Toe says the fund will focus its investments primarily in the infrastructure, consumer discretionary, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and environmental protection and renewable resources sectors.