AVCJ

Weekly digest - June 07 2023

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07 June 2023
JAPAN BUYOUTS: BUCKING THE TREND
COVER STORY
Japan remains a hotspot despite muted buyout activity elsewhere in Asia. Take-private and sponsor-to-sponsor deals make for a more textured local market.
Q&A
JAFCO ASIA'S SHAHAN SUD
JAFCO ASIA'S SHAHAN SUDSingapore’s Jafco Asia, a division of Japanese VC mainstay Jafco, hired Shahan Sud last year as its first in-country investment director for India. He explains a cross-border bridge long in the making.
DEAL FOCUS
PROSPERITY7 SUPPORTS GRADUAL ASCENT TO L4
PROSPERITY7 SUPPORTS GRADUAL ASCENT TO L4Saudi Aramco-owned Prosperity7 Ventures has made two investments in Hyperview this year, based on appreciation for the company’s commercially oriented approach to autonomous driving.
DEAL FOCUS
EVERMOS EXTENDS IMPACT TO SOCIAL COMMERCE
EVERMOS EXTENDS IMPACT TO SOCIAL COMMERCEIndonesia’s Evermos has more than doubled its total funding as investors see promise in a social commerce model that prioritises cottage industries and underemployed women.
DEAL FOCUS
ATOMBERG BASKS IN CONSUMER BREAKTHROUGH
ATOMBERG BASKS IN CONSUMER BREAKTHROUGHHome appliances manufacturer Atomberg defied the naysayers in building a hardware-focused consumer brand out of India. Its USD 86m Series C will support product and capacity expansion.
By the Numbers
AVCJ RESEARCH
RESTRUCTURING REVIVAL?
Distress situations have been delayed – arguably for years – across Asia by an accommodating policy environment. As the effects wear off, there is mounting real and anecdotal evidence of corporate strife, from start-ups folding to mature companies struggling with debt burdens.
GenesisCare, an Australia-headquartered cancer care provider backed by private equity, recently filed for bankruptcy protection in the US – an apparent consequence of difficult market conditions and an aggressive US expansion plan. Investors in Real Pet Food, another Australian company, injected additional equity to appease lenders following a covenant breach. And NestAway, an Indian apartment rental start-up once valued at USD 220m was sold for a fraction of that sum.
Only GenesisCare is on the cusp of formal restructuring; the other two situations are essentially bailouts for companies that might otherwise have sunk further.
Restructuring deal flow involving private equity investors increased markedly in the post-global financial crisis years, with more than 130 transactions worth a combined USD 19.3bn announced between 2009 and 2013, according to AVCJ Research. Developed markets – with more reliable bankruptcy regimes and legal systems – like Korea, Japan, and Australia came to the fore.
During the subsequent five years, USD 8.1bn was put to work across about 50 deals. Nearly half of that USD 8.1bn came from a single deal – Hahn & Company’s restructuring of SK Shipping in 2018. Much the same happened in 2021 when almost all the USD 9.4bn invested went into Chinese semiconductor giant Tsinghua Unigroup.
The coming months may see increased activity, but that won’t necessarily capture the full extent of corporate weakness. There will be plenty of situations – indeed, special situations – where investors rescue companies before they toppled over the brink.
CHART
All of the trends featured here were sourced from AVCJ's proprietary database, AVCJ Research, featuring comprehensive information on private equity deals, fundraises and exits.
The rest of the week
FUNDS
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OTHER
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UPCOMING EVENTS

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