Baring Vostok Capital Partners, a backer of Yandex, the Russian internet search firm that raised $1.3 billion in a US float this week, plans a new fund later this year, founding partner Michael Calvey told Reuters.
Baring Vostok would seek to raise $1.1 billion for its fifth fund, the same size as the last capital-raising in 2007 by the Russia-focused private equity partnership, which was set up in 1994 and landed its biggest coup with the Yandex listing.
Yandex shares leapt by 55 percent on Tuesday, their first day of trading on Nasdaq. Based on Wednesday's close, the business is worth $11.2 billion.
That's 750 times the value put on Yandex when Baring Vostok led an investor group that bought into the internet start-up in 2000, when it had revenue of just $72,000 and lost $2 million.
Calvey declined to comment on the Yandex float, citing disclosure rules. But he said that, with its existing capital now 60 percent invested, Baring Vostok was preparing the ground to launch the new fund late this year or early next year.
"It takes longer for any private equity firm to raise new funds these days compared to 2007, and we don't want to have a gap between funds during which we can't execute on new opportunities," the 44-year-old American said in an interview.
Calvey is the only non-Russian partner at Baring Vostok, which has a 19-company portfolio concentrated on fast-growing service sectors such as information technology, healthcare, retail, media and financial services.
Investments include online retailer Ozon.ru - in which Baring Vostok invested around the time of the original Yandex deal - outdoor advertiser Gallery and leasing firm Europlan.
It does have resource assets, including Russia's Volga Gas and Zhaikmunai in Kazakhstan, but prefers niche players and specialist equipment producers and avoids investments where it might clash with large state-controlled firms.
The strategy enables Baring Vostok to steer clear of Kremlin politics, where a perceived lack of transparency is often cited by foreign investors as a reason to keep away from Russia.