China Everbright, Focus Media form $750m TMT fund

The vehicle, New Industry Investment Fund, has an initial fundraising target of RMB2 billion. China Everbright has contributed RMB800 million, while Zhong Wei Capital - an onshore investment arm of Focus Media - has put in RMB400 million. The remainder will be raised from third-party investors, according to a filing. 

The fund will invest in growth-stage technology companies in the areas of entertainment, consumer, vertical e-commerce, and internet finance.

Focus Media operates an advertising network in various Chinese urban locations. It uses audiovisual television displays that are placed primarily in high-traffic areas of commercial office buildings such as in lobbies and near elevators, as well as in large retail chain stores and other venues.

The company was taken private from the US in 2012 by a PE and management-led consortium, which included China Everbright, in a deal worth $3.7 billion. It completed its re-listing in Shenzhen last year via a reverse merger at a valuation of $7.37 billion. A group of Focus Media's offshore shareholders made partial exits to 36 domestic institutional investors before the backdoor listing plan was announced.

In April, Focus Media partnered with another of its PE shareholders, FountainVest Partners, to launch a $400 million sport-focused fund. Last month, China Everbright and IDG Capital Partners launched a joint M&A investment fund of at least $3 billion in size that will support the growth of companies in China and overseas.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Fundraising
• Renminbi fund
• Technology
• Expansion
• Venture
• China
• China Everbright
• TMT
• Growth capital