Standard Chartered invests in China's Aiyingdao department store

Aiyingdao, a specialist retailer, says it will use the investment to capture growth in China's maternity, infant and children (MIC) product market. Founded in 1998, the company currently has around 230 directly operated stores in southern, eastern, and central China. It hopes to expand to 600 stores over the next three years, generating RMB10 billion ($1.6 billion) of revenue through both online and offline sales.

"SCPE has been closely following the investment opportunities in the consumer and retail sector in China, and we are very pleased to have the opportunity to establish a strategic partnership with Aiyingdao," said Wei Zhu, head of SCPE in Greater China, in a statement.  

Faqiu Ye, chairman of Aiyingdao, added that the company hoped to leverage SCPE's global network and investment experience to establish itself as the leader in China's MIC sector.

SCPE is not the only PE firm to try and tap into Asia's infant and children-related consumer space. In January, Lunar Capital said it would set-up a joint venture with Italian children's fashion brand "I Pinco Pallino" to expand its presence in China and East Asia. Fifty stores under the luxury brand "I Pinco Pallino" are to be opened in Asia over the next five years with flagship stores in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Macau, Singapore and Taiwan.

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• Topics
• Greater China
• Consumer
• Expansion
• Investments
• Standard Chartered Private Equity
• China
• Consumer
• Growth capital