CAMBODIA'S largest diversified investment fund has closed fundraising after securing over US$27 million in capital commitments, a company statement said Monday.

The figure falls short of an initial target of $100 million, but is the most successful capital-raising program of any of Cambodia's diversified funds, company officials said.

Leopard said it is targeting property, financial services, agriculture, food and beverage processing, and tourism. The largest investment came from Europe.

Managing partner Douglas Clayton said he was pleased with the program. "The situation has changed considerably since we launched. About six-months ago, we started to rethink out targets," he said, adding that he was optimistic about Cambodia's GDP growth potential, despite recent pessimistic projections for 2009. "Cambodia is like a coiled spring that will bounce back in a few years," he said.

Clayton said Leopard is in the advanced stages of negotiating investments, and that the $27 million in capital would be invested over two years.