GPs
CITIC Capital hits $1.3b first close on new China fund
CITIC Capital has reached a first close of $1.3 billion on its latest US dollar-denominated China fund, which has an overall target of $2 billion.
Deal focus: Värde wants a piece of India's $200b problem
Värde is tackling what it sees as a massive opportunity set in the Indian distress market by partnering up with local investor Aditya Birla Capital
I Squared raises $7b for global infrastructure fund
I Squared Capital, an infrastructure-focused private equity firm, has closed its second global fund at the hard cap of $7 billion.
TPG Growth names India, Southeast Asia head
Shailesh Rao (pictured), a former executive at Twitter and Google, has been named head of India and Southeast Asia for TPG Growth, the middle market investment platform of TPG Capital.
True North's Nirula joins Carlyle Asia PE team
Vikram Nirula, a co-founder of Indian PE firm True North, has joined The Carlyle Group as a managing director responsible for private equity. He will be based in Mumbai and advise on Carlyle’s investment activities in India.
KKR strengthens Japan private equity team
KKR has hired Kazuyuki Kido, who previously spent 20 years at SMBC Nikko Securities and Nikko Principal Investments, as a managing director in its Tokyo-based team.
Korea buyouts: Local edge
Private equity firms must double down on local networking, due diligence, and value-add capacity as competition for deals intensifies in the Korean buyout market
Korea tender offers: Bidding on winners
Tender offers have long been overlooked in South Korea’s PE toolbox, where their traditional use in privatization deals seems to have little value. Local GPs may be able to adapt them to the market’s needs
Aditya Birla, Värde launch India distressed asset JV
Aditya Birla Capital (ABCL), the financial services arm of the Aditya Birla Group, and Värde Partners will launch a joint venture to pursue investments in stressed and distressed assets in India.
Korea macro: Tempered tiger
Korea’s economic momentum has simmered down as demographic, political and industrial evolutions suggest a structural decline. Investors are monitoring the transition with a conditional sense of optimism
Korean IPOs: The public eye
A growing number of South Korean buyout firms are testing the waters for domestic IPOs. Continued regulatory hurdles mean that realizing value will require planning for the post-offer period
Korean project funds: Lines of sight
The prevalence of project funds in Korea is routinely linked to local institutional investors’ innate discomfort with blind pool vehicles. But is this dynamic holding back middle market managers?
Crescent raises $586m for sixth Australia, New Zealand fund
Crescent Capital Partners has closed its sixth Australia and New Zealand mid-market fund at A$800 million ($586 million) after less than three months in the market.
AVCJ Awards 2018 - Nominations have now closed
Nominations for the 2018 AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Capital Awards have now closed. The public voting stage of the process will begin around October 10.
China facilities management: Cleaning up
Private equity investors are turning their attention to China’s outsourced facilities management market, recognizing the opportunities presented by under-penetration and fragmentation
Y Combinator hires ex-Baidu COO to lead China business
Silicon Valley-based seed-stage accelerator Y Combinator (YC) has chosen Qi Lu, the former group president and COO of search giant Baidu, as the founding CEO of its China branch, YC China.
Golden Equator launches Brunei accelerator
Singapore’s Golden Equator has launched an accelerator in Brunei aimed at helping local small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) expand across Southeast Asia.
Openspace closes second SE Asia VC fund at $135m
Southeast Asia-focused VC firm Openspace Ventures – best known for being the first institutional investor in Indonesian ride-hailing and delivery platform Go-Jek – has closed its second fund at the hard cap of $135 million.
Crescendo hits $398m hard cap on second Korea fund
Crescendo Equity Partners, a mid-market Korean GP that concentrates on the industrial technology space, has closed its second fund at the hard cap of KRW450 billion ($398 million).
India's ASK Investment files for IPO
Indian asset and wealth management firm ASK Investment Managers, which operates private equity fund ASK Pravi as a joint venture with Pravi Capital, has filed for a domestic IPO.
BGH hires Blackstone Australia executive
BGH, the Australia and New Zealand-focused private equity firm set up by former TPG Capital Asia co-head Ben Gray, has hired Jonathan Chamberlain, a managing director at The Blackstone Group, as a partner.
Automation and investment: Channeling the flow
Investors are beginning to experiment with automation in various aspects of the deal-making process. Results to date are encouraging but lack detailed cost-benefit insight
Q&A: iCapital Network's Lawrence Calcano
Launched in 2013 and backed by a string of placement agents, iCapital Network leverages technology to give high net worth investors access to alternatives. CEO Lawrence Calcano discusses the democratization of capital raising
PE and tech investment: The late show
Private equity firms are participating in late-stage rounds in Asia’s technology space as they look to gain a toehold in start-ups with the potential to transform economies. But do the valuations make sense?