Funds
AVCJ at 25: Finian Tan of Vickers Capital
Finian Tan, founder and chairman of Vickers Capital Group, identified Baidu as a start-up and guided the search engine provider all the way to IPO. It was the first in a string of post-tech bubble investments in Chinese internet companies
AVCJ at 25: Lip-Bu Tan of Walden International
Lip-Bu Tan, founder and chairman of Walden International, plotted the route by which foreign venture capital entered China’s internet sector, as well as guiding dozens of Asian companies from start-up to listing
AVCJ at 25: Roy Kuan of CVC Capital Partners
Roy Kuan, managing partner at CVC Capital Partners, witnessed a transformation in private equity in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. Suddenly he was in the buyout business, carving out assets from distressed conglomerates
AVCJ at 25: Weijian Shan of PAG
Weijian Shan, chairman and CEO of PAG, made his name in private equity turning around troubled companies for Newbridge Capital. Two bank deals helped open international investors’ eyes to the Asia buyout opportunity
AVCJ at 25: Ta-Lin Hsu of H&Q Asia Pacific
Ta-Lin Hsu, founder and chairman of H&Q Asia Pacific, brought venture capital to Taiwan as part of efforts to develop the tech sector. It was a launching pad for private equity across the region
AVCJ at 25: Lewis Rutherfurd of Inter-Asia Venture Management
Lewis Rutherfurd, co-founder of Inter-Asia Venture Management, has been active in the industry for 40 years. During that time he brought McDonald’s and Ikea to Hong Kong – and set up Asian Venture Capital Journal
Helion, Nexus commit $10m to Indian e-commerce player ShopClues
Helion Venture Partners and Nexus Venture Partners have invested INR540 million ($10 million) in e-commerce firm Shopclue.com. Netprice.com CEO Teruhide Sato also participated in the funding round.
Australia's Blackbird Ventures reaches first close on VC fund
Sydney-based VC firm Blackbird Ventures has reached a first close of A$20 million on its A$30 million ($31 million) internet-focused venture capital fund.
Morgan Creek to deploy over half of Fund II in China – report
Morgan Creek Capital reportedly plans to deploy at least 60% of its next Asian fund-of-funds in China. The vehicle, the firm’s second dedicated to the region, has a target of $300 million.
Temasek's Vertex leads Series B round for Clearbridge BioMedics
Vertex Ventures, a VC unit of Temasek Holdings, has led a Series B round of financing for Singapore-based Clearbridge BioMedics worth S$9 million ($7.2 million). Other participants include existing investor BioVeda, Spring Seeds Capital, Biosensors International...
CX Partners targets May first close for India mezz fund
India’s CX Partners is aiming to raise the first round of capital for its new mezzanine fund by May.
Life sciences VC investor Domain creates China partnership
US-based venture capital firm Domain Associates has teamed up with Chinese financial advisor Elite Consulting to support Western healthcare companies entering China. Several global VC investors and related service providers have been bulking up their...
Li Ka-Shing's Horizon Ventures leads Nipendo round
Horizons Ventures, which manages VC investments for Hong Kong magnate Li Ka-Shing, has led an $8 million series B round of funding in Nipendo, a cloud-based trading community platform.
Longreach adds to Tokyo team
North Asia mid-market buyout firm The Longreach Group has appointed Takuya Sato as executive director and Kishin Ryu as an associate.
KKR closes in on Alliance Tire buyout - report
KKR is said to be in the final stages of acquiring an 80% stake in Indian tire maker Alliance Tire Group. The deal values the company at $600 million and it will see KKR buy Warburg Pincus' entire interest in the company as well as shares from other minority...
Cerberus to boost stake in Japan's Seibu
Cerberus Capital Management wants to raise its stake in Japanese railways and property group Seibu Holdings by around 4% as the company plans to re-list.
PE firms call for limit on Japan's government-backed funds
KKR, The Carlyle Croup and Bain Capital are part of a group of private equity firms urging the Japanese government to rein in its state-backed funds.
Affinity reaches $1.5b first close on Fund IV
Affinity Equity Partners has reached a first close of $1.5 billion on its fourth fund, having spent only about five months in the market. The vehicle has a hard cap of $3.5 billion.
MGPA acquires Shanghai office building
MGPA has acquired J-Tower, a newly completed Grade A office building in Shanghai's Jiading district for RMB263.5 million ($42 million).
Fidelity Growth Japan leads Metaps series B round
Fidelity Growth Partners Japan has led a JPY1 billion ($10 million) Series B round of investment in Metaps, a Tokyo-based mobile software developer. Existing investors have also taken part in the round.
WestBridge renews commitment to Pathlabs
WestBridge Capital'S involvement with India's Dr. Lal Pathlabs goes back to 2005, when the private equity firm invested around $10 million through its debut vehicle, WestBridge Venture Fund I.
AID Partners makes bet on HMV
The rise of services like iTunes and Spotify are enough to make any record store business shudder. Factor in the proliferation of file-sharing services and online piracy, and it is inevitable former giants like the UK's HMV seem to be going the way of...
India's Grameen Koota raises $9.6m from VCs
Indian's Grameen Financial Serivces (GFS), also known as Grameen Koota, has raised INR532 million ($9.6 million) from Creation Investments, Incofin Investment Management and MicroVentures in its third round of funding.
PE-backed Blue Star entities pick up assets from Geon
Blue Star’s Australia and New Zealand entities, which are now run by two separate private equity-backed management groups, have agreed to buy assets from struggling rival printing company Geon.