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.
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. The firm invests in various industries including financial services, consumer durables, retail, F&B, pharmaceutical, healthcare, media and business services.
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.Milestones and Prominent Investments
Creador has four funds, Creador I, Creador II, and Creador III, and Creador IV, with total Assets Under Management of $1.5 billion.| Fund | Amount | Year of Establishment | Status |
| Creador I | Fully deployed across 7 investments. | ||
| Creador II | Fully deployed across 14 investments. | ||
| Creador III | Fully deployed across 10 investments. | ||
| Creador IV | 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 | 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. | |
| OldTown White Coffee | OldTown is Malaysia Asian restaurant chain and a player 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. | |
| Repco | 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. | |
| Simba | 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. | |
| BFI | 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. |
Creador II
Creador's second fund, Creador II closed at $331 million in 2014 and the fund was fully deployed across 14 investments. Concurrently and in 2013, Creador established a dedicated operations and strategy team, known as Creador+, which focuses on value creation within the portfolio.| Investment | Year | Company Description |
| GHL | A payment solutions provider in Southeast Asia, providing integrated end-to-end payment solutions encompassing physical and virtual payments. 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. | |
| Somany Ceramics | Established in 1968, Somany Ceramics Limited 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. | |
| CTOS Data System | A credit bureau in Malaysia, providing data and analytical tools to clients. CTOS helps organizations manage credit risk and prevent fraud. | |
| Asiamet Education Group | ASIAMET Education Group Berhad is a Medical and Allied Health education provider in Malaysia. Asiamet operates across Peninsular and East Malaysia. | |
| RedCap | Established in 1998, RedCap Pharmacy is a retail pharmacy chain currently operating in the southern and central region of Peninsular Malaysia. |
Creador III
For its third fund, Creador raised $419 million and fully deployed it across 10 investments.| Investment | Year | Company Description |
| City Union Bank | City Union Bank is a listed private, scheduled commercial bank in India focused on financing to Small and Medium Enterprises, Trade and Retail segments. | |
| Corona Remedies | Indian based pharmaceuticals company that produce a wide range drugs in therapeutic segments like the cardio diabetic, nutraceuticals, gynecology, orthopedic and pediatrics | |
| MR.DIY | 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 | Ventaserv is a leading independent vending machine supplier based in Malaysia. It has built partnerships with leading brands such as Coca-Cola and Nestle. In 2017, Ventaserv became the first vending machine provider that adopted a cashless payment system such as TnG cards and other major credit cards. | |
| Hermina | 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. 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 | Paras Healthcare is a North India focused hospital chain offering secondary and tertiary care services. Established in 2006, Paras Healthcare is built on three tenets – quality, affordability and accessibility. The chain continues to expand in the Tier I and Tier II towns of North India by being a community player and empowering the middle class with access to quality care at locations that have limited facilities. | |
| Mr.DIY Indonesia | 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 | Established in 1987, Bake With Yen is the largest specialty bakery and food ingredients retailer with presence in Peninsular and East Malaysia. Over the last 30 years, BWY has developed a reputation as the preferred one-stop destination for a vast array of affordable local and imported baking ingredients. Today, BWY boasts a successful range of in-house products and aspires to expand its footprint across Southeast Asia. | |
| Ujjivan | Ujjivan is the holding company of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, which is focused on providing loan and savings products to the unserved and underserved population. Incorporated in 2004, Ujjivan serves over 3.5 million customers through its network of pan India branch network. | |
| Mobile World | Established in 2004, Mobile World Group is the largest organised retailer in Vietnam with close to 2,000 retail outlets in all 63 provinces in the country. MWG has demonstrated strong track record in building successful retail businesses where MWG has grown to become the market leader in mobile device, consumer electronics and online retailing in Vietnam. The group has also ventured into grocery retailing business recently and aspires to dominate the market with Bach hoa XANH mini mart, further consolidating its market leader position in Vietnam’s retail industry. |
Creador IV
In 2018, Creador closed $580 million for its fourth fund, Creador IV, and has made 7 investments to date.| Investment | Year | Company Description |
| MR.DIY Philippines | 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 | iValue InfoSolutions is a Valued Added Distributor founded in 2008, with a consultative approach to understand and address customer evolving needs around Data, Networking and Application protection and management offerings. iValue has a direct partnership with over 35 Global OEMs and over 700 System Integrators/Partners to provide solutions for its over 6,000 Customers. It has direct market development presence across 13+ locations with customer and channel focused teams addressing sales, pre-sales & post sales requirements across multiple industry verticals. | |
| MR.DIY India | 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 | Incorporated in 1996, Kogta is an emerging retail non-bank finance company 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 | GHL is a leading payment solutions provider in ASEAN, providing integrated end-to-end payment solutions encompassing physical and virtual payments. With a full suite of payment solutions, 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, another electronic payment service provider. GHL is well positioned to benefit from the secular shift from cash and cheque to electronic payments. |
Key Persons
Brahmal Vasudevan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer.Anand Narayan, Managing Partner, Creador India.
D. Cyril Noerhadi, Chairman.
Kevin Loh, Managing Director.
Stefanus Ade Hadiwidjaja, Managing Director.
Waynn Wu, Managing Director.
Creador+
Creador+ works together with companies on key operational and strategic matters. Projects include regional expansion strategies, new business growth programs, business unit level operational and profitability improvements, and cost reduction programs.Creador+ played a key role in supporting GHL during the company growth phase, including GHLís acquisition of e-pay Asia Ltd. in 2014, and launching of its merchant acquiring businesses in Malaysia and the Philippines in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Creador+ has been actively involved in accelerating the growth at CTOS through supporting the launch of new products and services, expansion into new markets and segments, introducing operational excellence and in 2020, acquisition of Philippines's oldest credit bureau, CIBI.
Creador+ has also been crucial in helping MR.DIY with its regional expansions into other geographies such as Indonesia, the Philippines and India.