KKR wins firm of the year at AVCJ Awards

A total of 18 prizes were presented, including three awards to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of AVCJ – by marking the leading investment from each decade in which the publication has been active. KKR also took the Investment of the 2000s prize for its joint acquisition of Oriental Brewery with Affinity Equity Partners. The other winners across all the categories included Lilly Asia Ventures, Kedaara Capital, VIG Partners, CDH Investments, ChrysCapital, Advantage Partners, Qiming Venture Partners, and Allegro Funds.

“Private equity is never about a few individuals, a few deals, or a few funds, it is about the firm and the franchise you are building to help deliver consistently strong performance,” said Ming Lu, head of Asian private equity at KKR. “We raised a $9.3 billion fund and then we have been very busy putting that capital to work and realizing some good investments. This has been one of the best years for KKR and I want to thank everyone for their hard work.”

In addition to closing its third pan-Asian fund, KKR announced 12 new deals and made distributions from seven investments during the 12 months ended September 22, 2017. This GP has been active in multiple markets – putting capital to work in China, Korea, India, Australia and Vietnam – but there was a strong Japan theme. Three corporate carve-outs were announced, of which two have closed, including Calsonic Kansei Corporation, the largest-ever PE-sponsored transaction in the country.

Japan was well-represented among the nominees, securing two exit awards: one for the MBK and Goldman-led group that completed the sale of Universal Studios Japan to Comcast NBCUniversal in February; and another, in the mid-cap segment, for Advantage Partners which exited massage chain operator Riraku in September for $300 million. The GP, which more than doubled Riraku’s network of outlets and tripled EBITDA during the holding period, secured a 12x money multiple on its investment.

“A deal that is 10% of your fund and comes back at 12x, returning more than your fund, gets a little bit of attention, so we are very pleased with how that worked out,” said Richard Folsom, co-founder of Advantage. “Another thing we liked about this – and it is indicative of deals like Permira and Sushiro as well – is the growth in Japan. It’s a market people don’t expect a lot of growth in but sometimes it is there, and you get some great returns.”

The other exit prize, for IPO of the year, went to India’s Au Small Finance Bank, which raised $296 million in its offering in July, allowing ChrysCapital, the International Finance Corporation, Kedaara Capital, and Warburg Pincus to make partial exits. Kedaara also received the award for mid-cap fundraise, having closed its second vehicle at the hard cap of $750 million earlier this year.

“We started off in a very small way five years ago to create a different type of fund, focused on doing buyouts and actually having exits,” Manish Kejriwal, founding partner at Kedaara, observed drily. “I remember discussions with people – some of whom are in the room – and we said, ‘We don’t know what the world DPI means because we aren’t supposed to give money back in India.’ But we’ve been fortunate.”

The AVCJ Special Achievement Award, which recognizes an individual who has distinguished himself or herself over a long period of time in facilitating the growth of the industry, went to Victor Fung, group chairman of Hong Kong’s Fung Group, which controls Li & Fung among other businesses. As founder of Prudential Asset Management Asia – later known as PAMA Group – he has been one of the pioneers of private equity in the region, also supporting Asian Venture Capital Journal in its early days.

Fung’s involvement in the industry dates to 1986 when he chaired a government-appointed committee tasked with devising ways to establish Hong Kong as a financial center. “The decision was to create a private equity and venture capital center for the region,” he recalled. “And that really resulted in the founding of the Hong Kong Venture Capital & Private Equity Association and the GEM market and then the promotion of the whole industry. I am thrilled to see the way it has grown today.”

The AVCJ Awards took place on the eve of the 2017 AVCJ Forum, which is being held in Hong Kong from November 14-16. 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: LAV Biosciences Fund IV (Lilly Asia Ventures)
• Fundraising of the Year – Mid Cap: Kedaara Capital Fund II (Kedaara Capital)
• Fundraising of the Year – Large Cap: KKR Asian Fund III (KKR)
• Deal of the Year – Early Stage Technology: Beijing SenseTime (CDH Investments/Dalian Wanda Group/IDG Capital)
• Deal of the Year – Late Stage Technology: Ofo (Atomico/CITIC Private Equity/Coatue Management/Didi Chuxing/DST Global/Macrolink Group/Matrix Partners China)
• Deal of the Year – Mid Cap: Press & Converting (VIG Partners)
• Deal of the Year – Large Cap: Yingde Gases (PAG Asia Capital)
• Exit of the Year – IPO: Au Small Finance Bank (ChrysCapital/IFC/Kedaara Capital/Warburg Pincus)
• Exit of the Year – Mid Cap: Riraku (Advantage Partners)
• Exit of the Year – Large Cap: Universal Studios Japan (Goldman Sachs/MBK Partners/Owl Creek Asset Management/PAG Asia Capital)
• Venture Capital Professional of the Year: JP Gan & Nisa Leung (Qiming Venture Partners)
• Private Equity Professional of the Year: Yichen Zhang (CITIC Capital)
• Operational Value Add: Great Southern Rail (Allegro Funds)
• Firm of the Year: KKR
• AVCJ 30th Anniversary Awards - Investment of the 1980s: Acer (H&Q Asia Pacific)
• AVCJ 30th Anniversary Awards - Investment of the 1990s: Korea First Bank (Newbridge Capital)
• AVCJ 30th Anniversary Awards - Investment of the 2000s: Oriental Brewery (Affinity Equity Partners/KKR)

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