Two wins apiece for Quadrant, PAG, Affinity at AVCJ Awards

Affinity Equity Partners also received two awards - one for large cap exit of the year and the other a special achievement award for K.Y. Tang, the firm's chairman and managing partner, in acknowledgment of his contribution to the industry. A total of 15 prizes were presented, with GGV Capital, The Longreach Group, Navis Capital Partners, Sequoia Capital India, FountainVest Partners and NewQuest Capital Partners among the other winners.

Chris Hadley, Quadrant's executive chairman, paid tribute to the LPs that have backed the firm over the years and his "small but high performance team," but also acknowledged the role played by the portfolio company management teams. "We have done 60 deals over 20 years and some of those guys are exceptional people," he said. "Management teams make the profits. We provide guidance and capital but at the end of the day they do a lot of work on our behalf."

The awards recognized activity for the 12 months ended September 23, 2016. During this period, Quadrant closed its eighth Australia and New Zealand-focused fund at A$980 million ($754 million) after less than six weeks in the market. The firm followed up with completion of the sale of Canberra Data Centers, delivering a 3.4x multiple, and a string of new investments - agreed or concluded - covering automobile services, tourism, rehabilitation services and fitness clubs.

PAG has also been proficient in fundraising, investment and exits, achieving a first and final close of $3.6 billion on its second pan-Asia buyout fund, deploying more than $2 billion in new deals, and securing partial exits from Chinese Music Corporation and Universal Studios Japan. The acquisition of Golden Apple Education Group - which won the deal of the year prize - was a particular coup as the first sizeable foreign private equity-led buyout cum debt restructuring in China.

Technical skill was a common theme among the Chinese private equity investments recognized at the awards. NewQuest won the operational value add category for China Hydroelectric, a complicated turnaround deal that involved taking control of the board, buying out other shareholders in order to facilitate a take-private, and an operational improvement program. It culminated in a sale to Shenzhen Energy. Similarly, the IPO of the year honor went to Focus Media, which blaze a trail that others have tried to follow with a reverse merger in Shenzhen. The business has appreciated in value more than three-and-a-half fold since going public.

"Exits are a big challenge in Asia and it takes a lot of hard work and occasionally some good luck. We never thought this deal would come back to China for listing - we thought it would be Hong Kong - but we went through this incredibly complicated process and managed to list in China," said Frank Tang, CEO of FountainVest, which was one of six PE firms involved in the deal. Tang was also named PE professional of the year in recognition of a 12-month period in which FountainVest closed its third China fund at $2.1 billion and secured liquidity events for IMAX China and Key Safety Systems, as well as Focus Media.

For Affinity, the awards were an opportunity to look back on recent successes - it won the large-cap exit prize for the sale of Korean entertainment company Loen Entertainment, securing a 6x return - and Tang's overall track record in Asia, which covers more than 15 years.

Recalling the comments he made when accepting an AVCJ Award 11 years ago, Tang observed there are four key elements to success in private equity that remain true to this day: be hungry, be passionate, be insightful, and don't forget the fundamentals. In addition to those - and speaking with the benefit of 11 years' experience - he also stressed that PE investors are fortunate in that their economic model offers the security of long-term funding and the ability to manage businesses in a sustainable manner.

"I recently held my AGM and one of my largest LPs, who previously worked as a GP, said his managing partner always said the most important thing is to take care of investors. Number two is take care of your investments; and number three is take care of your staff, and then yourself," Tang added.

The AVCJ Awards took place on the eve of the 2016 AVCJ Forum, which is being held in Hong Kong from November 15-17. For more information, please go to www.avcjforum.com. For further details on how the awards winners were chosen, please go to www.avcjforum.com/awards.

The winners in full:

• Fundraising of the Year - Venture Capital: GGV Capital VI, GGV Discovery I & GGV Capital VI Entrepreneurs Fund (GGV Capital)
• Fundraising of the Year - Mid Cap: Quadrant Private Equity No.5 (Quadrant Private Equity)
• Fundraising of the Year - Large Cap: PAG Asia II (PAG Asia Capital)
• Deal of the Year - Early Stage Technology: Zai Lab (Advantech Capital /OrbiMed/Qiming Venture Partners/Sequoia Capital/TF Capital)
• Deal of the Year - Late Stage Technology: Go-Jek (KKR/Warburg Pincus/Capital Group International/Farallon Capital)
• Deal of the Year - Mid Cap: Wendy's Japan (The Longreach Group)
• Deal of the Year - Large Cap: Golden Apple Education Group (PAG Asia Capital)
• Exit of the Year - IPO: Focus Media (FountainVest Partners/The Carlyle Group/CITIC Capital/Primavera Capital/Fosun Group/China Everbright)
• Exit of the Year - Mid Cap: Golden Foods Siam (Navis Capital Partners)
• Exit of the Year - Large Cap: Loen Entertainment (Affinity Equity Partners)
• Venture Capital Professional of the Year: Shailendra Singh (Sequoia Capital India)
• Private Equity Professional of the Year: Frank Tang (FountainVest Partners)
• Operational Value Add: China Hydroelectric (NewQuest Capital Partners)
• Firm of the Year: Quadrant Private Equity
• AVCJ Special Achievement: Kok-Yew Tang (Affinity Equity Partners)

 

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• Topics
• Fundraising
• Expansion
• Buyouts
• Exits
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• AVCJ Awards
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• Asia