Trade sale
Alibaba acquires VC-backed cloud computing Kanbox
Alibaba Group has agreed to buy Kanbox, a Chinese cloud storage service provider backed by Susquehanna Asia Investment and DCM. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
TPG exits China leasing business to Haitong Securities for $715m
TPG Capital has agreed to sell Chinese financial leasing business UT Capital Group to Haitong International Holdings for approximately $715 million. It brings to an end a five-year ownership period during which UT Capital has expanded its activity from...
Gresham PE exits Tasmanian Walking Company
Gresham Private Equity has exited Australian tour firm Tasmanian Walking Company (TWC) to Virgin Australia co-founder Brett Godfrey. The financial details were not disclosed.
Battle of the strategics
We have grown accustomed to China’s incumbent internet giants engaging in M&A. Since 2010, the BATS – Baidu, Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings and Sina – have deployed around $6.5 billion (and that’s just disclosed transactions), eight times the...
Lunar Capital exits China mobile payment business to Ping An
Lunar Capital and co-investors RRE Ventures and Icon have exited SmartPay, one of China’s leading third-party online payment providers, to an affiliate of Ping An Insurance Group. The insurer, which also has bank and asset management interests, is said...
Australia's Catalyst exits EziBuy to Woolworths for $274m
Catalyst Investment Managers has exited Australia and New Zealand apparel and homeware retailer EziBuy to Woolworths for NZ$350 million ($274 million). The PE firm bought a 43% stake in EziBuy six years ago for an enterprise valuation of NZ$200 million,...
AMP Capital exits Australia care home stake to Singapore’s G.K. Goh
AMP Capital has agreed to sell a 47.62% stake in Domain Principal Group (DPG), a leading Australian provider of residential aged care services, to Singapore-listed G.K. Goh Holdings (GKGH) for A$136.7 million ($123.6 million).
Unitas, CCMP set for 3.5x return as Atlas Copco buys Edwards for $1.6b
Unitas Capital will make up to 3.5x its money on Edwards Group after Sweden’s Atlas Copco agreed to buy the specialist vacuum products developer for approximately $1.6 billion, including debt. Unitas and CCMP Capital have owned the business since 2007...
Malaysia's Khazanah in Turkish insurance buyout, Abraaj exits
Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional has agreed to pay $252 million for a 90% stake in Turkish health insurer Acibadem Sigorta. The investment facilitates the exit of The Abraaj Group, which held a 50% stake in the business.
Taiwan’s Chinatrust buys Tokyo Star Bank – report
Chinatrust Commercial Bank, one of Taiwan’s largest commercial lenders, has reportedly agreed to buy Tokyo Star Bank for JPY52 billion ($519 million) from Lone Star and other creditors-turned-shareholders. It would be the first full buyout of a Japanese...
Strategics buy Singapore start-ups Techsailor, YFind
Two Singapore-based start-ups – Techsailor and YFind – have been snapped up by strategic investors. This follows last week’s acquisition of VC-backed travel website TravelMob by NASDAQ-listed vacation rental portal HomeAway.
Jungle Ventures secures TravelMob exit
Four years ago, Asia Pacific became the world’s largest aviation market, with 647 million travelers taking flights within the region compared to 638 million in North America. This growth shows no sign of slowing down – in the first four months of...
Asia PE fundraising slumps to $13b in first half of 2013
Asia private equity fundraising came to $13.8 billion in the first half of the year, down 40% on the second half of 2012, according to provisional data from AVCJ Research. This is the lowest six-monthly total since January-June 2009. PE investment reached...
Anacacia exits Rafferty's to PZ Cussons for 10x return - Update
Anacacia Capital has sold baby-food producer Rafferty’s Garden to London-listed PZ Cussons for GBP42.2 million ($64 million). The Australia GP is understood to have generated a 10x return on an investment made three years ago.
Carlyle finds the right formula for Yashili
Glow-in-the-dark pork, dumplings with aluminum, cadmium-tainted rice, and cooking oil made from recycled sewage are just some of the horrors that have found their way onto Chinese dinner tables in recent times. It is no wonder, then, that there is an...
Carlyle, Seven to retain ownership of Australia's Coates Hire
The Carlyle Group and Seven Group Holdings have decided against pursuing an exit from Australian equipment-leasing business Coates Hire following a strategic review. The co-owners said they remain fully committed to growing the business.
Japan divestments still strong despite 'double-edged sword' of Abenomics
Corporate divestments continue to be a strong source of buyout deal flow in Japan, regardless of the impact of recently introduced economic reforms, according to Richard Folsom, co-founder and CEO of domestic GP Advantage Partners.
PE-owned Dutch waste company sells subsidiary to Cheung Kong Infrastructure
A Dutch waste management provider owned by CVC Capital Partners and KKR has exited its energy-from-waste (EfW) subsidiary to a consortium led by Cheung Kong Infrastructure (CKI) for EUR940 million ($1.27 billion). It is the Hong Kong-based company’s...
Regulator blocks Anacacia exit of Rafferty’s to Heinz
Anacacia Capital’s sale of baby-food producer Rafferty’s Garden to H.J. Heinz has been blocked by the Australian Competition and Consumer Association (ACCC). The regulator decided that the transaction would give Heinz an unfairly dominant market position.
TPG, Northstar in partial exit from Indonesia’s BTPN
TPG Capital and Northstar Pacific Partners have agreed to exit part of their stake in Indonesian lender Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional (BTPN) to Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).
Japan's Takeda buys Singapore biopharma start-up
PE-backed Singapore biopharmaceutical start-up Inviragen is to be acquired by Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical for $250 million.
Baidu buys VC-backed PPS’ online video platform
Baidu has agreed to pay $370 million for PPS’ online video business, creating an exit opportunity for the company’s venture capital backers. Ceyuan Ventures, Qiming Venture Partners and Vision Knight Capital have invested in PPStream in the last seven...
China webinar: Still a safe bet?
Exits have been preying on the minds of China-focused private equity investors as the IPO market so little signs of revival. It means GPs must think more broadly and more globally
TPG launches sale for China’s UniTrust
TPG Capital will begin the sales process for Shanghai-based finance and leasing company UniTrust this week. The deal is expected to be worth $800 million, with significant interest coming from other players in the leasing industry.