Ascendent sets $800m target for third China fund

The private placement memorandum was issued last month, according to sources familiar with the situation. The fundraise comes less than a year since Kevin Zhang, one of the two co-founders of the firm, departed to establish his own family office.

Ascendent continues to be led by Liang Meng, who previously headed up J.P. Morgan’s M&A team and the Greater China investment business of D.E. Shaw. The firm takes what has been described as a merchant banking-style approach to private equity, providing companies with capital in conjunction with advice and solutions.

Fund I closed at $365 million in 2012 and backed companies such as WH Group and Nano Resources, both of which subsequently went public. Healthcare and education are prominent themes. The portfolio includes drug developers BioChain Beijing and SciClone Pharmaceuticals, a private general hospital, and kindergarten operator RYB Education.

Ascendent made a partial exit from RYB Education in 2017 through a US IPO. Another liquidity event came last year as Meituan-Dianping listed in Hong Kong.

A number of China-focused managers are currently in the market, with consumer specialist ClearVue Partners recently indicating in a filing that it is targeting $600 million for its third fund. Meanwhile, larger players such as Centurium Capital, DCP Capital Partners, Primavera Capital Group, CITIC Capital, and CDH Investments are more advanced in their fundraises.

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