Regulation
Financial investors in financial services
Financial services deals put Asia Pacific private equity on the map worldwide.
TPG/AA JAL deal still flying?
TPG Capital and American Airlines' plan for a $1.4 billion turnaround investment in Japan Airlines (JAL), seemingly stalled, has received fresh impetus with JAL making a formal application for anti-trust clearance to Japanese regulators, so as to proceed...
LP t&c issues as power balance shifts
The debate over the impact of the GFC on the balance of power between GPs and LPs has focused much on whether any power shift is real, or just cosmetic.
Actis settles differences over Nilgiri Dairy
Actis Capital has resolved its long-running dispute with the promoters of Nilgiri Dairy Farm, the Indian milk products group it took an ostensible control stake in for $65 million in 2006.
Primus Nan Shan bid gets extension
The consortium led by Primus Financial Holdings and China Strategic Holdings, which has already inked an agreement to acquire Taiwan's Nan Shan Life Insurance from American International Group (AIG), has now announced a sought-after accord with the seller...
Japan, a Catch-22?
While Japan's estimated GDP growth sits at just 2.6%, China is forecasted to hit 9.6% growth in 2010.
Shinsei Bank sacks four staff over pay
JC Flowers & Co.-owned Japanese lender Shinsei Bank will let go four foreign senior executives under new Japanese rules on annual compensation of individuals.
Taizinai ex-chairrman under arrest
Li Tuchun, former founding chairman of troubled Actis, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley drinks manufacturer investee Hunan Taizinai Group, has been arrested by mainland authorities on suspicion of embezzling state funds, according to PRC media reports....
Results, however volatile, in China
According to the recent AVCJ Private Equity and Venture Capital Report China 2010, around $12.9 billion was invested into the PRC over 2009, accounting for just under 30% of all private equity investment in Asia, China’s highest total ever by market share....
Asia Pacific: No longer far away
Despite predictions by some forward-looking industry figures that China may move ahead to supplant the US within a couple of generations as the world’s biggest private equity market, the US remains the fulcrum of global private equity.
Primus Nan Shan deal amended
Primus Financial Holdings and China Strategic Holdings Ltd. have amended their $2.15 billion joint agreement to buy Nan Shan Life Insurance Company in Taiwan from American International Group, Inc., placing $325 million in an escrow account for a four-year...
Indian government may limit Temasek, GIC ICICI holdings
The Indian finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India have lodged a query with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) over a proposal that Temasek Holdings and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) should increase their...
SWF survey shows image shortfall
Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), as well as private equity in general, may have a significant problem with acceptance even in some of the Asian markets most closely associated with them, according to a recent report, the Sovereign Brands Survey 2010, conducted...
Primus China Strategic Nan Shan bid triggers resignation
Raymond Or Ching-fai, CEO of China Strategic Holdings - the Hong Kong entity partnered with Primus Financial Holdings in the $2.15 billion joint bid for Nan Shan Life Insurance, the Taiwan unit of troubled US insurance giant AIG - has resigned from the...
HSBC private equity units could spin out
HSBC could be on the verge of spinning off its private equity units, including HSBC Private Equity Asia and HSBC Asian Ventures, through a series of MBOs, following growing regulatory and financial industry pressure for major banks to shed such capabilities....
Lee leaves DLA Piper for Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, an international law firm, has appointed Rocky Lee, a lawyer with special strengths in Asian private equity and venture capital, as Asia Managing Partner and Head of its Greater China Corporate Practice in the Corporate...
Location, location, location
Hong Kong and Singapore residents have long been used to the competition between the two regional centers in terms of quality of life, friendliness to business, and just about every other metric going.
TSMC invests China VC fund
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), one of Taiwan's largest listed chipmakers, said it has received a regulatory green light to invest $5 million in a new Chinese VC fund that targets chip design start-ups in the PRC semiconductor industry....
Oz private equity tax ruling deferred indefinitely
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has deferred for the third time its long-awaited ruling on taxation of private equity profits in Australia, pending a government review of tax policy in the sector.
Shoot the messenger
The European Union, as the price for bailouts running into the billions, has taken over the governments of Greece, Spain and Portugal, as their new controlling shareholder, while also assuming control of Germany’s provincial banks and the local government...
Temasek loses Indonesia competition appeal
Singapore SWF Temasek Holdings has lost its final appeal before Indonesia's Supreme Court in an anti-monopoly case concerning its positions in cellular providers PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) and PT Indosat.
GOME's Huang goes directly to jail
Huang Guangyu, founder of Bain Capital investee GOME Electrical Appliances Holdings, has finally been convicted in Beijing on bribery and insider trading charges, after a protracted detention, and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Showdown at GOME
The strength - and limits – of founder control in PRC investee companies received a sharp demonstration last week as major shareholders ostensibly connected to Huang Guangyu – founder of GOME Electrical Appliances and at that point awaiting trial in China...
Korean regulator says no bias against foreigners
With a $3.7 billion stake in Korea Exchange Bank (KEB) up for sale, a commissioner with Korea’s Financial Services Commission, Choi Kyu Yun, said in an interview that “the market has misunderstood our position,” and that foreign bidders would be welcome...