China's Tencent turns to PE

The main target for Tencent's first foray into private equity is the media space, including online gaming, social networking, wireless internet, e-commerce opportunities and other new media fields - areas in which Tencent is currently active. The fund size is expected to be RMB5 billion ($760 million), with funding coming solely from the parent company. It aims to maintain a two-to-three year investment period.

Ma Huateng, CEO of Tencent, publicly said the fund's launch is another milestone adopted by the company after the implementation of its "Open & Sharing" strategy, which includes the enhanced liberalization of its QQ space last month. Tencent has been listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since June 2004.

The news comes the same day that another Chinese internet giant, Alibaba Group, announced its own fund.

Tencent, touted as the world's third-largest internet company, has previously played a role in China's private equity sector. In August, the company purchased social networking provider Comsenz for a reported $60 million, seeing backers Sequoia Capital, Morningside Ventures and Google exit their stakes in the Beijing-based company.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Media
• Technology