China

Primus co-founder in aircraft leasing club deal

During a week in which it emerged that Primus Financial Holdings was no more, two of its co-founders reemerged in new guises. First, Dexia announced that it was in exclusive negotiations with GCS Capital, a financial services-focused PE firm run by GuocangHuan,...

The four arms of Chinese private equity

The Chinese private equity market has lost a lot of its momentum in the past 12 months, with fundraising and investment dropping significantly, particularly in the latter half of 2012. Renminbi fundraising appears to have ground to a near halt, contributing...

Composition Capital invests in four Asian projects

Composition Capital Partners has invested in four projects in Macau, Taiwan and Malaysia through its local joint venture partners. The property-focused investor has also exited a Tokyo office development within a year of acquisition.

PE-backed AAG Energy pulls Hong Kong IPO

Asian American Gas (AAG) Energy, a Chinese natural gas producer backed by Warburg Pincus and Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA), has postponed its Hong Kong IPO due to challenging market conditions. The company started pre-marketing for the up to $200...

MSPEA in convenience store carve-out

HI-24 is every bit the orphan subsidiary. Last year the Chinese convenience store chain's parent company changed its name to China Financial Services Holdings (CFSH), confirming a strategic rethink already apparent from its acquisitive activity. Once...

Asia Awards: Firm of the Year – Bain Capital

In the past 12 months, Bain Capital has raised its second Asia fund, closed sizeable deals in Japan and India, and completed a strong China exit. Jonathan Zhu, a managing director at the PE firm, looks back and forward

Asia Awards: VC Deal of the Year – Xiaomi

The hugely successful launch of Xiaomi’s smart phone, and the subsequent $216 million Series C round, justified Morningside Technologies and Qiming Venture Partners’ early faith in the Chinese company

Asia Awards: Fundraising of the Year – PAG

Given the challenging fundraising environment, GPs – especially first-time fund managers – should expect the marketing process to be at best protracted and at worst impossible. The notion doesn’t apply to this year’s winner of the Fundraising...

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Cleantech: Moving beyond subsidies

With its reputation for lackluster returns and dependence of government support, investors have shied away from cleantech, but GPs are bullish about its ability to stand on its own feet

GCS Capital in talks to buy Dexia asset management unit

GCS Capital, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, is in exclusive talks to buy Dexia’s asset management arm. It is estimated that the deal could be worth EUR500 million, lower than the EUR750 million Dexia was reportedly seeking when it put the asset...

Boyu invests in Hong Kong retailer Stelux

Boyu Capital has invested in Stelux Holdings through a subscription for HK$371 million ($47.8 million) of convertible bonds issued by the Hong Kong retailer. As part of the deal, CEO Joseph Wong said he planned to nominate Boyu’s Mary Ma and Alex Wong...

Goldman Sachs in partial exit from Geely

Goldman Sachs has sold 600 million shares of Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile Holdings in a deal worth $254 million. The shares were divested after the private equity investor exercised a combination of convertible bonds and warrants.