Articles by Tim Burroughs
Lombard sells 10% stake in Thai department store chain
Lombard Investments has exited its 10% holding in Robinson Department Store, a mid-market retailer in Thailand, for approximately $219 million.
New Zealand’s Xero raises $49m from Valar, Matrix
New Zealand-based online accounting software company Xero has raised NZ$60 million ($49 million) in new capital from US VC firms Valar Ventures and Matrix Capital Management. Valar is backed by Peter Thiel, best known for his early investments in PayPal...
Aureos, GSB exit Thai hospital interest to Malaysia’s KPJ
Aureos Capital and GSB Private Funds – a vehicle set up by Thailand’s Government Savings Bank and managed by ING – have agreed to exit their holdings in Vejthani Hospital to KPJ Healthcare, a hospital chain with assets in Malaysia and Indonesia...
Maine PERS commits $30m to Affinity’s fourth Asia fund
Affinity Equity Partners has secured a $30 million commitment for its fourth pan-Asia fund from the Maine Public Employees’ Retirement Systems (Maine PERS). It was one of four investments, each of the $30 million that the $11 billion pension plan announced...
AVCJ honored at State Street Asia Press Awards
Asian Venture Capital Journal was honored at the 2012 State Street Institutional Press Awards, Asia Pacific, winning two prizes for its reporting on the private equity industry.
MBK reaches first close of $1.25b on Fund III
MBK Partners has reached a first close of $1.25 billion on its third buyout fund, industry sources have told AVCJ. The vehicle launched in September and has a full target of $2.25 billion. MBK declined to comment.
HarbourVest raises more than $3b for secondaries fund
HarbourVest Partners has exceeded the $3 billion target for its latest global secondary fund after about one year in the market. According to regulatory filings, Dover Street VIII has accumulated LP commitments of about $3.1 billion, slightly larger than...
Q&A: Everstone Capital's Sameer Sain
Sameer Sain, co-founder and managing partner of Everstone Capital, on exit channels, areas of interest for investments and taking foreign companies into India
OPIC funds head Jay Koh to return to private sector
Jay Koh, head of investment funds and chief investment strategist at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), will leave the group at the end of November to return to the private sector. He will relocate to New York.
Muddy Waters founder may launch hedge fund
The founder of short-seller research firm Muddy Waters, which claims responsibility for exposing financial irregularities among US-listed Chinese companies, is considering launching a hedge fund.
Korean start-up accelerator appoints new GPs
Korean start-up accelerator SparkLabs has appointed Jay McCarthy and Awy Julianto as general partners. They are managing partner and general partner, respectively, at Singapore-based boutique M&A and financial advisory firm Pacific Advisors.
Patni brothers buy stake in Grameen Capital India
Amit and Arihant Patni, the brothers who set up internet-focused VC firm Nirvana Venture Advisors, have acquired a stake in Grameen Capital India (GCI) from its original investor IFMR Trust. The transaction is said to represent a first-of-its-kind exit...
Morgan Stanley in China convenience store carve-out
Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia (MSPEA) is on course to complete a carve-out of China Financial Services Holdings’ (CFSH) convenience store business, Hi-24.
CDC to invest $1b in India via LP, direct commitments
CDC Group, the UK government’s development finance arm, plans to commit $1 billion to India over the next 4-5 years, with nearly half of it coming through direct investment. The projection is in line with a wider adjustment in CDC’s mandate that will...
Bain-owned MYOB to cut debt through notes offer
Accounting software firm MYOB plans to issue A$125 million ($131 million) in subordinated notes to pay down debt used to finance its acquisition by Bain Capital and also to return capital to the private equity investor. The notes will be issued on the...
Gen2, China Private Equity in partnership agreement
Gen2, a Hong Kong-based asset management firm that focuses on Greater China private equity opportunities, has formed an alliance with China Private Equity Investments Holdings (CPE), an AIM-listed vehicle that claims to offer European investors to Chinese...
Alter Domus appoints new MD in Singapore
Fund administrator Alter Domus has appointed Tervinder Chal as country leader of its Singapore office. Before taking up his new role, Chal worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG and then spent four years at Vastardis Capital Services where he was...
VC-backed China tech firm YY jumps 7% on NASDAQ debut
Shares in venture capital-backed social networking platform YY climbed 7.7% on their NASDAQ trading debut after the company completed the first IPO by a Chinese firm in the US in seven months.
PEP separates Braiform from portfolio company Spotless
Australia’s Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) has carved out coat hanger manufacturer Braiform from Spotless Group, the cleaning and catering contractor it acquired earlier this year. The company now reports directly to PEP.
Lone Star starts arbitration proceedings against Korean government
Lone Star Funds has initiated arbitration of its claim for damages suffered as a result of alleged unlawful intervention by the Korean government with the private equity firm’s rights as a major shareholder in Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) and other companies...
IDG-Accel China in take-private bid for US-listed Memsic
IDG-Accel China has submitted a takeover bid for NASDAQ-listed Memsic that values the semiconductor manufacturer at $96.8 million. The prospective investor would like to work with Yang Zhao, Memsic’s founder and CEO, to formulate a definitive proposal...
Silver Lake-owned Allyes names new CEO
Silver Lake-owned Allyes, a Chinese digital marketing company, has appointed Hanhua Wang as CEO, effective December 1. He replaces Eric Chen, a managing director at Silver Lake, who had been serving as interim CEO. Chen remains chairman of the Allyes...
Malaysia’s Ekuinas wants Icon Offshore to list by 2014
Ekuinas, the Malaysia sovereign wealth fund, plans to list its oil and gas services unit, Icon Offshore, within three years. Abdul Rahman Ahmad, the Icon’s CEO, said the company was already eligible for an IPO but they want to wait until earnings justify...
VC tackles China dining: Fast food, quicker expansion
Qiming Venture Partners decided to create a China casual dining chain from scratch in order to replicate an outsourcing model that has worked in other industries. Cloud 9 is now aggressively building out its network