Investments
The secondary network: Online platforms
Setter Capital’s Secondary Link is the latest online platform intended to fill the information void in the secondaries market. Industry participants have mixed feelings as to its utility
VCs to take Kingsoft across borders, platforms
Hong Kong-listed software developer Kingsoft is not in desperate need of capital. It posted a net profit of RMB466.4 million ($76.6 million) in 2012, up 39% year-on-year, and its cash reserves stood at RMB2.4 billion for the year. Furthermore, in July...
KKR agrees capital injection
Before agreeing to invest $200 million in India's Gland Pharma, KKR looked at a couple of opportunities in the injectable drugs space in the US and another in India over a period of several years. The PE firm has a long-standing interest in the industry...
Asia Awards: VC Professional of the Year – Richard Liu
Richard Liu has spent 14 years investing in tech, media and telecom for Morningside Technologies. He has witnessed increasing competition, ups and downs in e-commerce, and the rise of the domestic super angel
Asia Awards: VC Deal of the Year – Tujia
Lightspeed China likes disruptive business models that build up traction online and then use the momentum to gain a foothold offline as well. This has worked to good effect with Meilele, an online furniture retailer that now has a network of 200 offline...
Asia Awards: AVCJ Special Achievement – Shangzhi Wu
CDH Investments started out in 2002 with four LPs and $100 million in capital. The team had been together for six years as the private equity unit of China International Capital Corp. (CICC), but the asset class was relatively unknown and unproven in...
Asia Awards: Exit of the Year – Matahari Department Store
Two substantial partial exits that can be seen to justify the Indonesia investment thesis for global PE firms were among those nominated for Exit of the Year: TPG Capital and Northstar Group’s agreed sale of more than 30% of Bank Tabungan PensiunanNasional...
Asia Awards: Operational Value Add – Yonghui Superstores
Headland Capital Partners invested in Chinese supermarket chain Yonghui Superstores in 2007 and helped turn the regional player into a sector outperformer with a national footprint
Asia Awards: PE Professional of the Year - Michael Kim
MBK Partners closed its North Asia-focused fund in September and also completed four of Asia’s largest buyouts of 2013. Michael B. Kim, the firm’s founding partner, looks back on a busy 12 months
Asia Awards: Firm of the Year - KKR
KKR closed its second pan-Asia fund at $6 billion and announced investments of $1.8 billion and distributions of $1.2 billion for the year to September. Capstone, the firm’s operating unit, was a factor in each area
Adding extra: China bolt-on acquisitions
Private equity firms are exploring various strategies to help Chinese companies expand overseas. Bolt-on acquisitions are a proven approach in some markets, but that doesn’t mean they work for corporate China
Cautious optimism in Taiwan
“We have prepared a statement if you want it.” Within minutes of a panel concluding at the AVCJ Taiwan Forum in September, a piece of paper landed in my lap from the American Chamber of Commerce In Taipei’s (AmCham) private equity committee, which...
China Huace Media buys stakes in VC-backed Herun Media
Shenzhen-listed film and television producer Huace Media has picked up a 20% stake in Herun Media, a Beijing-based marketing specialist backed by several domestic VCs, for RMB104 million ($17 million).
Crescent-owned travel insurer to raise $475m in Australia IPO
Crescent Capital Partners-owned travel insurer Cover-More Group is targeting a A$521.2 million ($475 million) IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange.
Advantage to exit Japan's Nissen for $22.8 million
Advantage Partners, the Japanese mid-market buyout firm, is to exit its stake in catalogue and web-based retailer Nissen Holdings to Seven & i Holdings, the Japanese parent of 7-Eleven and the Ito Yakado supermarket chain, for JPY2.36 billion ($22.8 million).
KV Asia buys Singapore skin care brand
KV Asia Capital has agreed to acquire Singapore-based Derma-Rx International Aesthetics (DIAL) from Indian skin care company Marico Kaya Enterprises. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed
Portea Medical raises $7.6m from Accel, Ventureast
Accel Partners and Ventureast have contributed INR480 million ($7.69 million) in Series A funding for Indian home healthcare provider Portea Medical.
Singapore's Coda Payments gets Series A round
Carrier billing provider Coda Payments has raised $2.3 million in Series A funding from GMO Global Payment Fund, Rakuten Ventures, CyberAgent Ventures, and return backers Golden Gate Ventures and Skype co-founder Toivo Annus.
China to resume IPOs in 2014 – CSRC
The China Security Regulatory Commission (CSRC) plans to re-open the IPO market in January. About 50 firms are expected to pass the regulator’s review and become the first batch to list.
ICICI Venture invests $22.4m in BTI Payments
ICICI Venture has committed INR1.4 billion ($22.4 million) to BTI Payments for a significant stake in the ATM and point-of-sales (POS) services contractor.
PE firms bid for CVCI-owned BPO firm SourceHOV - report
Apax Partners, The Carlyle Group and Baring Private Equity Asia are said to be among bidders for SourceHOV, a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm jointly owned by Citigroup Venture Capital International (CVCI) and Mumbai-listed HOV Services.
Taiwan proposes changes to M&A regulations
Taiwan’s cabinet has approved the first amendments to the territory’s Business Mergers and Acquisitions Act in nearly a decade, including a provision that raises the level of shareholder support required for a take-private transaction to go through....
MBK Partners sells Japan-based Invoice to Lone Star
MBK Partners has fully exited Invoice, Japan’s largest telecom bill aggregation service provider, to Lone Star Funds. The sale price was not disclosed but sources close to the deal said the North Asia-focused private equity firm had generated a 2.5x...
Blackbird leads round for Australian bitcoin start-up
Blackbird Ventures has invested A$250,000 ($227,645) to lead a A$500,000 round of funding for Melbourne-based CoinJar, a bitcoin wallet and exchange provider. Angel investors in the round include RetailMeNot founders Guy King and Bevan Clark and game...