Gopher, Perfect World launch $300m China media M&A fund
Gopher Asset Management, the PE arm of Noah Holdings, has teamed up with Chinese movies-to-gaming company Perfect World to launch a media and culture M&A fund that has a target of RMB2 billion ($300 million).
According to a regulatory filing, Perfect World said it will commit RMB500 million and Gopher will raise the remaiining RMB1.5 billion from third-party investors. The fund - known as Junyi Yunyang Equity Investment Partnership - is looking to acquire entertainment and cultural companies, with a view to turning Perfect World into a world-class "intellectual property factory" in the media industry.
In February, Perfect World launched a private equity fund with domestic fund-of-funds Shengjing to invest in a slate of movies produced by US-based Universal Pictures. Under the agreement, Perfect World agreed to invest $250 million in 50 films produced by Universal Pictures over the next five years. The proposed investment from Perfect World will cover about 25% of the budget of each film.
Formerly Perfect World Pictures, the Shenzhen-listed company initially focused on television and movie production in China. However, earlier this year it bought all the assets of online gaming affiliate Perfect World when the business was de-listed from NASDAQ.
The locally-listed company reported RMB1.13 billion in revenue last year, up from RMB926 million in 2014, while its net profit jumped from RMB188 million to RMB246 million during the same period.
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