CDIB hires senior team from SMC Capital

Hamilton Tang (pictured), who had been with SMC for more than 17 years, latterly as CEO and managing partner of SMC Capital, will work out of CDIB's Hong Kong office. Yinghai Xie and Sandy Ng, formerly a partner and a principal at SMC Capital, have been appointed managing director and senior vice president, respectively. They will be based in Shanghai.

In Tang’s new role, he will focus in particular on CDIB Capital's US dollar fund business. The GP closed its debut US dollar-denominated Asia fund in 2015 at $405 million.

“They [CDIB Capital] have a well-established and uniquely differentiated private equity platform with a highly successful track record,” Tang said. “We believe that our investment experience and networks will be a great complement to CDIB Capital’s existing capabilities.”

SMC Capital was initially majority-owned by SMC. Tang headed up the PE unit, primarily investing in middle-market consumer businesses. It launched a fund in 2004 with Milestone Capital, but the parties subsequently agreed to raise separate vehicles. SMC followed up with the RMB600 million ($86 million) SMC Capital China Fund I in 2010.

In 2015, Tang led a management buyout of SMC Capital and launched a second China fund with a target of $200 million. The fund reached a first close of $40 million and most of the capital has been deployed across five companies, including a Chinese mobile phone recycling start-up Huishoubao.

Following the recent departures, fundraising has been abandoned. Tang and Xie will continue to serve on the boards of existing portfolio companies, while John Ng, a Hong Kong-based partner at SMC Capital, will be responsible for the firm’s day-to-day operations.

CDIB Capital was set up in 2006 using balance sheet money. In addition to the US dollar fund, it manages two renminbi VC funds, a biotech fund and a lifestyle fund in Taiwan, as well as an innovation fund with the mandate from Alibaba Group.

Paul Yang, who was the president and CEO of China Development Financial (CDF) and chairman of CDIB Capital, was hired by KKR late last year as head of Greater China.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• People
• Fundraising
• China
• CDIB Capital
• Appointments
• SMC Capital China