Southeast Asia
Singapore's Leonie Hill Capital backs aerospace VC fund
Singapore’s Leonie Hill Capital is backing a $200 million venture fund for the aviation and aerospace industry alongside US-based Starburst Accelerator.
VC-backed KFit buys Groupon Malaysia
Malaysian gym membership app KFit, whose VC backers include Sequoia Capital and Venturra Capital, has acquired Groupon Malaysia.
Asia Climate Partners backs US-based Fluidic Energy
Asia Climate Partners, a fund set up by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Orix Corp, and Robeco Institutional Asset Management, has committed $20 million to US-based energy storage technology developer Fluidic Energy.
Delta Capital reaches $30m first close on Myanmar-focused fund
Delta Capital Myanmar, formerly known as PMM Partners, has reach a first close on its second Myanmar-focused fund at $30 million. The full target is $100 million.
Singapore's Tembusu teams up with Chinese entrepreneur Shengdong Pang
Singapore-based private equity firm Tembusu Partners has teamed up with Shengdong Pang, founder of Chinese start-ups 2345.com and 51.com, to build ties between nascent software companies in China and Southeast Asia.
Vertex leads $5.5m round in Singapore's Spacemob
Vertex Ventures, the VC arm of Singapore's Temasek Holdings, has led a $5.5 million seed round for Singapore-based co-working space developer Spacemob.
Singapore's GIC makes changes to senior leadership
Singapore’s GIC Private has promoted Chow-Kiat Lim, currently its group chief investment officer, to the post of CEO, replacing Siong-Guan Lim, who will retire.
Fund focus: Falcon House shows its staying power
Falcon House Capital comfortably beat the target for its second Indonesia-focused fund, raising $400 million for deployment in middle-market consumer sector businesses
Hong Kong tax: A life less certain
Hong Kong introduced legislation intended to give private equity investors greater tax certainty, but the implementation guidelines have moved it further from this goal. The implications could be wide-ranging
Falcon House closes second Indonesia fund at $400m
Falcon House Partners has closed its second Indonesia-focused fund at the hard cap of $400 million, buoyed by continued optimism about the rise of domestic consumption and a favorable response to the Widodo administration’s policies.
Standard Chartered PE invests $40m in Vietnam's N Kid
Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) has invested $40 million in N Kid, a Vietnam-based children’s media platform and retailer.
Thailand's Charoen Pokphand buys Bellisio from US GP
Thai agro-industrial giant Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) has acquired frozen meals specialist Bellisio from US private equity firm Centre Partners for $1.1 billion.
Sequoia, Shunwei invest in Singapore’s Patsnap
Sequoia Capital China has led a Series C round of funding for Singapore-based Patsnap, a web-based intellectual property analytics and management software developer.
Asia PE and upstream energy: Under the pump
Although a low oil price environment has created interesting inroads for PE investors seeking exposure to Asia’s growing energy consumption story, challenges of timing and targeting have slowed uptake
Asia fintech hubs: Head start
Singapore's move to strengthen its financial technology ecosystem underlines the importance of creating appropriate infrastructure and incentives for start-ups in the space
Warburg Pincus, VinaCapital to create SE Asia hotel platform
Warburg Pincus has teamed up with Vietnam-based GP VinaCapital and Don Lam, the firm’s founder, to create a hotel investment platform intended to tap into rising inbound tourism in Southeast Asia, particularly from China.
Family offices becoming more effective PE investors - AVCJ Forum
Family offices investing in Asia are improving their understanding of private equity and bringing increasingly sophisticated approaches to the asset class, industry professionals told the AVCJ Forum.
General Atlantic backs Indonesia lifestyle retailer
General Atlantic has invested about IDR1.1 trillion ($80.5 million) in a food and beverage unit of diversified Indonesian lifestyle products retailer Mitra Adiperkasa (MAP).
Large cap Asian LPs continue to prioritize co-investment - AVCJ Forum
Malaysia’s Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and Australia-based QIC differ markedly in terms of the maturity of their PE programs, but there is a common interest in establishing close ties to a limited number of GPs and pursuing co-investment.
GPs see the Asia risk premium narrowing - AVCJ Forum
Private equity investors still expect a risk premium in Asia, although given uncertainty in Western markets and the relative stability in Asia’s more mature economies, it is debatable how long the status quo will last, industry participants told the...
Singapore's MC Payment gets $3.5m for SE Asia expansion
Singapore private equity firm 2W Group has led a $5 million ($3.5 million) funding round for domestic financial technology company MC Payment.
IFC proposes $25m investment in CompareAsiaGroup
The International Financial Corporation (IFC), the investment arm of the World Bank, has proposed an investment of up to $25 million in Hong Kong-based financial comparison platform CompareAsiaGroup.
Asia’s LP landscape
Asia is increasingly a target for private equity firms on the fundraising trail, but the region’s LP base can be difficult to penetrate, with huge variations in size, appetite and sophistication
Singapore to ease regulations on start-ups as part of fintech push
Singapore is promising to provide venture capital firms with streamlined approval processes and tailored incentives as part of efforts to develop the fundraising landscape for local start-ups.