Centurium increases hard cap on China fund to $1.98b

The vehicle was launched in the first quarter of the year with an overall target of $1 billion and reached a first close of $925 million in June with commitments from the likes of sovereign wealth funds, large family offices, and fund-of-funds. GIC Private and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) are among the LPs, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Centurium has already made several investments. The firm took part in a $590 million share placement by US-listed biopharmaceuticals player China Biologic Products in August alongside CITIC Capital and Hillhouse Capital. Li was involved in several investments by Warburg Pincus in China Biologic from 2010 and continues to serve on the company's board.

Centurium also led a $200 million Series A round for Luckin Coffee – a coffee shop chain that has opened more than 1,000 stores in less than a year and achieved over one-third of Starbucks' daily volume in China – and invested $100 million in Loho, a domestic eyeglasses brand that pursues an online-to-offline (O2O) business model.

Li spent 14 years with Warburg Pincus before departing in early 2016. His two partners at Centurium are Joseph Chow, who was previously a managing director and head of China deal origination at boutique investment bank Moelis & Co; and Lei Lin, who founded automotive research business Sinotrust Market Research, sold it to Experian Group in 2007, and then engaged in other entrepreneurial activities.

Centurium is one of a handful of middle-market spin-out GPs in China. David Liu and Julian Wolhardt, who previously held leadership positions with KKR in China, are in the process of raising a fund of at least $2 billion at DCP Capital Partners, while ex-MBK Partners executive Kuo-Chan Kung established Nexus Point and is targeting $750 million.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Fundraising
• Growth
• GPs
• China
• Centurium Capital