Investments

Blackstone-backed Gokaldas closes in on export contracts

Indian apparel manufacturer Gokaldas Exports, a portfolio company of The Blackstone Group, is expected to land supply contracts from Wal-Mart and nine niche European fashion houses. The move is seen as part of a wider trend under which Western buyers...

Quadrant's Summerset raises $99m through IPO

Quadrant Private Equity-owned Summerset Group, New Zealand’s third-largest retirement village operator, has raised NZ$123.6 million ($99.5 million) in the largest IPO seen in the country in two years. The company sold 88.3 million shares at NZ$1.40 apiece,...

Anchorage exits NZ Burger King to Blackstone

It's a good time to be targeting turnarounds in Australasia. Private equity firms, hedge funds and investment banks are pursuing a host of opportunities in the consumer segment where companies have been hit hard by the seize-up in spending that followed...

Affinity buys Australian meats producer

Affinity Equity Partners has ramped up its consumer portfolio in Australia through a 70% stake acquisition in top deli meats producer Primo Smallgoods, for a price that values the company at A$740 million ($758 million).

Saab ends investment agreement with Chinese firms

Swedish Automobile has terminated an agreement to sell a majority stake in Saab to two Chinese companies, leaving the carmaker reliant on a $70 million commitment from US private equity firm North Street Capital to cover its immediate expenses.

KPCB leads Series B round for China's Moment Systems

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) has led a $20 million Series B round of financing for Chinese third-party digital marketing measurement company Moment Systems. China Broadband Capital, Redpoint Ventures and WPP Digital also participated.

MBK's CNS exit may be stalled - report

MBK Partners’ exit from Taiwanese media group China Network Systems (CNS) may again face delays, as regulators have called into question Want Want China Holdings’ intentions for the asset.

PE firms lose out in bid for Samsung's procurement arm

Online shopping mall operator Interpark has been named the preferred bidder for Samsung Group’s procurement arm iMarketKorea, beating private equity bidders including KKR and MBK Partners. The Interpark was previously said to be leading a consortium of...

CIC joins Blackstone in RBS commercial real estate deal

China Investment Corp. (CIC) has agreed to take a stake in Royal Bank of Scotland’s $1.4 billion commercial real estate portfolio alongside The Blackstone Group. They will each take a 12.5% stake in the portfolio, worth a combined $100 million, with the...

Lilliput seeks out-of-court settlement with Bain, TPG

Lilliput Kidswear is seeking an out-of-court settlement with investors Bain Capital and TPG Capital, having taken legal action earlier this month to prevent the private equity firms from exiting the company in response to a corporate governance scandal....

Advantage, Bain, Olympus in second-round bidding for Yayoi

Advantage Partners, Bain Capital and Olympus Capital have reportedly advanced into the second round of bidding for MBK Partners-owned Japanese accounting software developer Yayoi, which is expected to be one of the biggest sales in the market this year....

Bain acquires Japan's Skylark for $2.1b in equity

Bain Capital has officially acquired 100% of Japanese restaurant chain Skylark from Nomura Principal Finance for an equity value of JPY160 billion ($2.1 billion). It is the largest buyout in Japan since the onset of the global financial crisis.

Hana denies asking Lone Start to cut KEB sale price

Hana Financial Group has denied reports that it had asked Lone Star to cut the $4.16 billion acquisition price for Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) by one fifth. It was claimed that the US private equity firm responded by threatening to walk away from the deal...

Corporate Japan looks for growth overseas

Japanese companies need to take on the world. Local private equity professionals at the 2011 AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum Japan conference in Tokyo, which I am chairing, see globalization as the major current theme for corporate Japan. Indeed,...