CMIA Capital Partners, whose past investments include vegetable firm China Minzhong (CMFC.SI) and property developer Ying Li (YING.SI), on Friday launched a US$200 million ($245.4 million) private equity fund that will invest in China and Southeast Asia.

The CMIA Fund IV, Singapore-based CMIA’s fourth, will focus primarily on firms involved in China’s agriculture, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors.

“We hope to form eight to 15 deals of probably US$5 to US$20 million each within the next three years,” managing partner Lee Chong Min told reporters.

The deals in the pipeline include an additional investment in Emerald Asia Group, a Chinese cultivator of fungi products, which is planning an initial public offering (IPO) in either Shanghai or Shenzhen by 2014.

CMIA had invested previously in the firm via another fund.

CMIA was founded by Lee, formerly a trader with Cargill, and Anson Wang, who was previously regional managing director at HSBC Asset Management in Hong Kong.

The firm’s first three funds had an average internal rate of return of 28%, Lee said. – Reuters