Saban Capital plans to triple Asia portfolio
Saban Capital is looking to triple its investments in Asia over the next two years with a focus on the media and communications space.
The firm, which is owned by Univision Communications chairman Haim Saban, was established in 2001 and started investing in Asia in 2010, opening its Hong Kong office early last year. Saban opened its second Asian office in Singapore last month, from which it is pursuing opportunities in Southeast Asia, South Korea and India.
"In the next 12 to 24 months, we want to double or even triple the size of the portfolio in Asia," Adam Chesnoff, president and CEO of Saban told Bloomberg. "There is a void in sophisticated investors focusing on media and communication. And that is the strategy we are employing here in Asia."
Saban currently has five portfolio investments in the region including Media Nusantara Citra; Indonesian pay TV operator MNC Sky Vision; Celestial Tiger Entertainment, a joint venture with Astro and Lionsgate, and Chinese children's online entertainment company Taomee; and Indonesia's Global Mediacom.
According to AVCJ Research, PE investment in telecom - which includes segments such as cable, pay TV and cellular communications - in 2012 totaled $2.6 billion across 20 deals, representing a 60% increase on the previous year.
While the majority of these deals have been in the telecommunications space there have been some notable deals in the TV and cable space. Examples include Bain Capital's $1.2 billion purchase of a 50% stake Japan's Jupiter Shopping Channel as well as Providence Equity Partners and Macquarie Bank's $71 million investment in India's Hathway Cable & Datacom.
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