Creador

Creador is a private equity firm focused on growth capital investments in South and Southeast Asia, primarily Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, and also in Philippines. Creador is headquartered in Malaysia, with four additional offices in India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Philippines. [1]

Creador

Type of site	Private
Founded	2011, 10 years ago
Headquarters	Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia
Founder(s)	Brahmal Vasudevan
CEO	Brahmal Vasudevan
Key people	Anand Narayan D. Cyril Noerhadi Kevin Loh Stefanus Ade Hadiwidjaja Kabir Thakur Omar Mahmoud
Industry	Private Equity
Products	Growth Capital

Established in 2011 by Brahmal Vasudevan, the firm has raised close to $1.5 billion of investor commitments across 4 private equity funds since inception.[2][3] The firm invests in various industries including financial services, consumer durables, retail, F&B, pharmaceutical, healthcare, media and business services.[4]

Private Equity Firm

Established in 2011, Creador raised a total of close to $1.5 billion from leading endowments, fund of funds, pension funds, banks and family offices across the world.[5]

Milestones and Prominent Investments

Creador has four funds, Creador I, Creador II, and Creador III, and Creador IV, with total Assets Under Management (AUM) of $1.5 billion.[2][6]

Fund	Amount (in US$ million)	Year of Establishment	Status
Creador I	130	2011	Fully deployed across 7 investments.
Creador II	331	2013	Fully deployed across 14 investments.
Creador III	419	2015	Fully deployed across 10 investments.
Creador IV	580	2018	Being deployed.

Creador I

Established in 2011, Creador closed its maiden fund, Creador I, at US$130 million. There were a total of seven investments made in this fund across Indonesia, Malaysia, and India.

Investment	Year	Company Description
Cholamandalam	2012	Cholamandalam is a pan-Indian composite financial services provider established in 1978 and is engaged in the business of providing vehicle financing, home equity financing, business financing, stock broking and distribution of financial products. Creador invested around Rs 106 crore in Cholamandalam in early 2012. Creador exited their investment in June 2016 and generated 5x returns in local currency terms.[7]
OldTown White Coffee	2012	OldTown is Malaysia Asian restaurant chain and in the coffee segment. Established in 1999, OldTown comprises two business segments: F&B restaurants and Retail ready-to-drink coffee. The group launched its restaurant business in 2005 and has over 200 outlets in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and China. Creador had invested $15 million in the company and has now fully exited this investment.[8]
Repco	2013	A housing finance company promoted by Repco Bank, which is based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The company was backed by Carlyle and Creador in 2013, and in 2014 Creador has sold its stake and generated 2.6x returns in USD terms.[9]
Simba	2013	Simba is the cereal player in Indonesia. Established in 1997, Simba also has a presence in the snacks segment in Indonesia and a private label export snacks business. Simba was Creador's second investment in Indonesia after MNC Skyvision. Creador acquired Simba from Godrej Consumer Products Limited.[10]
BFI	2013	BFI is a multi-finance company in Indonesia. Established in 1981, the company focuses its business on the financing of cars and motorcycles for the middle and lower-middle segment of the economy.[11]

Creador II

Creador's second fund, Creador II closed at $331 million in 2014[2] and the fund was fully deployed across 14 investments.[4] Concurrently and in 2013, Creador established a dedicated operations and strategy team, known as Creador+.

Investment	Year	Company Description
GHL	2013	Creador acquired a stake in GHL in November 2013. In March 2017, Creador sold its stake at GHL Systems to Actis. Creador exited from GHL with a return of 2.8x in local currency terms.[12][13]
Somany Ceramics	2014	Established in 1968, Somany Ceramics Limited (SCL) is an Indian tiles producer including vitrified tiles. Creador bought the stake in Somany in early 2014. In April 2017, Creador fully exited its investment in Somany Ceramics with a return of 5.3x in local currency terms.[3][14][15]
CTOS Data System	2014	A credit bureau in Malaysia, providing data and analytical tools to clients.[16]
Asiamet Education Group	2015	ASIAMET Education Group Berhad is a Medical and Allied Health education provider in Malaysia. Asiamet operates across Peninsular and East Malaysia.[17]
RedCap	2015	Established in 1998, RedCap Pharmacy (formerly known as D'Apotic) is a retail pharmacy chain currently operating in the southern and central region of Peninsular Malaysia.[18][19]

Creador III

For its third fund, Creador raised $419 million and fully deployed it across 10 investments.[6][20][2]

Investment	Year	Company Description
City Union Bank	2016	City Union Bank (CUB) is a listed private, scheduled commercial bank in India focused on financing to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), Trade and Retail segments.[21]
Corona Remedies	2016	Indian based pharmaceuticals company that produce a wide range drugs in therapeutic segments like the cardio diabetic, nutraceuticals, gynecology, orthopedic and pediatrics[22]
MR.DIY	2016	MR.DIY is a home improvement retailer in Malaysia. The company retails a variety of household, hardware and electrical products. Established in 2005 and with its strong presence in Malaysia, MR.DIY launched its first international outlet in Bangkok, Thailand in January 2016 and has now grown to become the largest home improvement retailer in the region.
Ventaserv	2016	Ventaserv is a vending machine supplier based in Malaysia.[23] In 2017, Ventaserv became the first vending machine provider that adopted a cashless payment system such as TnG cards and other major credit cards.[24]
Hermina	2017	Hermina Group is one of the largest private general hospital chains in Indonesia with 28 hospitals and 2,800 operating beds across 17 tier 1 and tier 2 cities. The Group was initially founded as a single maternity clinic in the 1970s but has now developed into a multi-specialty general hospital chain with a core expertise in women and children care.[25] Hermina is also one of the early adopters and supporters of the government sponsored Universal Healthcare Coverage program as part of the Group’s goal of providing high quality and affordable hospital services to local communities across Indonesia.
Paras	2017	Paras Healthcare is a North India focused hospital chain offering secondary and tertiary care services. Established in 2006.
MR.DIY Indonesia	2017	Established in 2017, MR.DIY Indonesia is part of the regional expansion of MR.DIY Malaysia, which currently operates in countries across Asia Pacific. Headquartered in Jakarta, MR.DIY Indonesia retails a variety of household, hardware, and electrical equipment tailored to home improvement.
Bake with Yen	2017	Established in 1987, Bake With Yen (BWY) is the largest specialty bakery and food ingredients retailer with presence in Peninsular and East Malaysia.
Ujjivan	2017	Ujjivan is the holding company of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank. Incorporated in 2004, Ujjivan serves over 3.5 million customers through its network of pan India branch network.
Mobile World	2018	Established in 2004, Mobile World Group (MWG) is the largest organised retailer in Vietnam with close to 2,000 retail outlets in all 63 provinces in the country.

Creador IV

In 2018, Creador closed $580 million for its fourth fund, Creador IV,[26] and has made 7 investments to date.

Investment	Year	Company Description
MR.DIY Philippines	2018	MR.DIY Philippines is part of another regional expansion of MR.DIY Malaysia. Headquartered in Manila, MR.DIY Philippines retails a variety of household, hardware and electrical equipment tailored to home improvement.
iValue	2019	iValue InfoSolutions has direct market development presence across 13+ locations.
MR.DIY India	2019	Established in 2019, MR.DIY India is another regional expansion of MR.DIY Malaysia. Headquartered in Chennai, MR.DIY India retails a variety of household, hardware, and electrical equipment tailored to home improvement.
Kogta Financial	2018	Incorporated in 1996, Kogta is an emerging retail non-bank finance company (‘NBFC’) offering finance for used and new vehicles apart from providing small-ticket secured loans to micro and small enterprises. As of September 2019, it has a network of approximately 105 branches across 8 states and union territories in Central and West India.
GHL Systems (re-investment)	2020	GHL Systems successfully established a customer base beyond Malaysia, with key operations in the Philippines and Thailand. In February 2014, GHL acquired e-pay Asia Limited (e-pay), another electronic payment service provider.

Key Persons

Brahmal Vasudevan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

Anand Narayan, Managing Partner, Creador India.

D. Cyril Noerhadi, Chairman.

Kevin Loh, Senior Managing Director.

Stefanus Ade Hadiwidjaja, Managing Director.

Kabir Thakur, Managing Director, Co-Head India.

Omar Mahmoud, Managing Director.

References

1. Lee, Liz (9 September 2015). "Creador raises $250 mn, to seal two Indonesian deals".
2. "Creador raises $500m in Fund III, looking towards Sri Lanka and PH too". www.dealstreetasia.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
3. Bureau, Our (2017-05-01). "Creador II exits Somany Ceramics". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
4. Ramakrishnan, N (2016-07-25). "Flexible investment, fast returns — the Creador way". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
5. Narasimhan, T. E. (2017-11-16). "PE firm Creador plans fresh funds worth up to $600 mn for India, SE Asia". Business Standard India. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
6. "PE firm Creador hits final close of Fund III, raises $415m". www.dealstreetasia.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
7. "Creador exits from Cholamandalam Investment". www.dealstreetasia.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
8. "Creador and its founder stir excitement in the market - Business News | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
9. "PE firm Creador exits Repco partially - DealStreetAsia". www.dealstreetasia.com.
10. antaranews.com. "Creador akuisisi perusahaan makanan ringan Simba - ANTARA News". www.antaranews.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
11. "Creador buys 20% in Indonesian Index Selindo bank for $24m - DealStreetAsia". www.dealstreetasia.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
12. "Creador Partially Exits OldTown White Coffee (Asia) - EMPEA". EMPEA. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
13. "Malaysia: Actis acquires major stake in GHL Systems with $65.5m deal, Creador exits - DealStreetAsia". www.dealstreetasia.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
14. "Creador exits Somany Ceramics with high return". VCCircle. 2017-04-20. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
15. Bureau, Our (2017-04-20). "PE firm Creador exits from Somany Ceramics". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
16. "Creador poised to reap rewards from CTOS buy - Business News | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
17. "Creador, SMRT acquire Masterskill for $31.5m - DealStreetAsia". www.dealstreetasia.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
18. "Creador injects $24.53m in RedCap Pharmacy for expansion". www.dealstreetasia.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
19. "Creador enters pharmacy retail business - Business News | The Star Online". www.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
20. "Creador achieves Fund III first close of $250m, to seal two Indonesian deals in Oct". www.dealstreetasia.com. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
21. "Exclusive: Creador exits City Union Bank with high returns". VCCircle. 2017-05-30. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
22. Dave, Sachin; Dutta, Vishal (2016-07-13). "Creador Capital close to investing Rs 118 crore for minority stake in Corona Remedies". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2017-11-14.
23. "Who We Are". Ventaserv. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
24. "Vending machines go cashless". www.thesundaily.my. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
25. "Overview". Hermina Corporate. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
26. "Malaysia's Creador gathers $565m for fourth fund, exceeds hard cap". DealStreetAsia. Retrieved 2020-07-28.