Centurium scales back China fund target to $1.5b

The manager has received fewer than USD 1bn in commitments thus far, four sources familiar with the situation told Mergermarket, AVCJ's sister publication. They added that the hard cap has been set at USD 2bn. Centurium did not respond to requests for comment.

A regulatory filing indicating the establishment of Centurium Capital Partners II was made in April 2021. Twelve months later, a second filing disclosed that USD 249m had been raised from six limited partners (LPs). Filings of this nature do not necessarily reflect the full extent of a fundraise.

Centurium, which was established by David Li, formerly China head at Warburg Pincus, closed its debut fund on USD 2bn in July 2019 with support from the likes of GIC Private, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), and Washington State Investment Board. The original target was USD 1bn.

Six months later, Centurium launched Fund II, seeking USD 2.5bn. There were plans for a USD 2bn first close as early as the end of the first quarter, but these were thrown awry by the exposure of fraud at NASDAQ-listed Luckin Coffee, one of the private equity firm’s largest portfolio companies in April 2020. The fundraise was quietly postponed.

Centurium, the largest minority investor in Luckin prior to the company’s May 2019 IPO, responded by taking a controlling position and executing a turnaround. Luckin had more than 8,000 outlets as of December 2022 and posted a net profit of CNY 418.7m. This compares to a CNY 5.3bn loss in 2020.

Other portfolio companies include Taibang Biologic Group – formerly China Biologic Products – which was taken private at a valuation of USD 4.76bn in 2021. Centurium also has exposure to electric vehicle manufacturer Xpeng, trucking company ANE Logistics, textile solutions provider NTX, and genetic testing platform Genebox.

Among the firm’s more recent investments are industrial artificial intelligence specialist Govion Technology and robot developer Yogo Robot. Both deals were completed last October.

Centurium’s strategy for Fund II is much the same as Fund I. The manager pursues control and significant minority deals in China’s consumer, business services, and healthcare sectors, with a focus on technology-enabled transformation.

Numerous China-focused managers are struggling to raise capital as LPs move to risk-off mode and many US investors scale back commitments amid geopolitical tensions. About USD 21.5bn was committed to US dollar-denominated China funds last year, according to AVCJ Research. The running total for 2023 is approximately USD 6.1bn.

Managers such as Matrix Partners China and Highlight Capital have pushed out the final closes for their latest vintages while Hopu Magnolia reduced its fund target, Mergermarket reported. Other Chinese private equity firms still in the market raising new funds include Trustar Capital and DCP Capital.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

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