A private equity fund targeting Philippine firms worth PHP5 billion or US$120 million was launched today. The fund, named Navegar, is said to finance the growth of Filipino companies in a variety of booming industries over the next five years.

The Navegar Fund was invested by Brummer and Partners, a venture company based in Sweden. A total of 20 investors participated in the raising of the Navegar fund, including top guns in the international financing industry and European family offices.

In a statement made to local reporters, Patrik Brummer, chairman of Brummer and Partners, said that the Philippines' economic growth is encouraging to investors. The country is exuding a positive business development, despite its contemporaries currently suffering challenging circumstances, he added.

"To be in the place like the Philippines, compared to many other parts of the world, it can actually be [sic] reasonably predictable growth," the chairman of the fund continued.

The entire capital fund will be spent on private, non-listed firms based in the Philippines.