Consumer
China job site Zhaopin trading strongly after $75.7m US IPO
Chinese recruitment website Zhaopin is trading at around a 17% premium to its IPO price after raising $75.7 million through a US offering and receiving a parallel investment from Apax Partners.
Bain sues Big Four auditor over India kidswear deal
Bain Capital is taking legal action against EY – formerly Ernst & Young – in a US court, alleging that its now worthless investment in India’s Lilliput Kidswear was made on the basis of false financial statements that the accounting firm had audited....
India's FashionandYou raises $10m Series D round from VCs
Indian discount e-commerce fashion site FashionandYou.com has raised $10 million from new and existing investors in a Series D round of funding including Sequoia Capital, Smile Group, Norwest Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Nokia Growth Partners....
Providence tunes into India TV shopping
To trace the origins of Providence Equity Partners' latest India deal it is necessary to look back to the PE firm's INR3.58 billion (US$71.36 million) joint investment in Hathway Cable & Datacom in 2012. Providence and Macquarie acquired a 17.3% stake...
The food thesis
Food has and continues to be one of the more compelling investment theses for private equity in China. The first phase of the consumer story was leveraging the emergence of discretionary consumption - households with sufficient income to choose one brand...
Inspire Ventures leads $10m round for Thailand's aCommerce
Inspire Ventures has led a $10.7 million Series A round of funding for aCommerce, a Thailand-based e-commerce services provider.
China's CNEI in health products play
China New Enterprise Investment (CNEI) has invested $10.5 million Qinghai Weide Special Sugar (Weide), a Chinese producer of nutritional additives.
Yunfeng, CITIC PE seal $320m China dairy investment
Yunfeng Capital and CITIC Private Equity have agreed to invest at least RMB2 billion ($320.5 million) in an unlisted farming subsidiary of Chinese dairy producer Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group.
KDDI invests $1m in Japan handiwork marketplace
KDDI Open Innovation Fund, the early-stage investment vehicle backed by Japanese telecoms giant KDDI, has invested JPY100 million ($1 million) in Creema, an online consumer-to-consumer (C2C) market for handmade items.
PE consortium to build hog farms with China's COFCO Meat
KKR, Baring Private Equity Asia, Hopu Investments and Boyu Capital will invest in COFCO Meat, a subsidiary of Chinese agricultural conglomerate COFCO Group, to develop hog farms and meat processing plants.
L Capital adds ex-Reliance Retail CEO to advisory board
L Capital Asia, a PE firm backed by luxury goods conglomerate LVMH, has added Bijou Kurien, former CEO India's Reliance Retail, as a member of the strategic advisory board.
JD Capital, co-investors back China hair accessories maker
China’s JD Capital has invested RMB$60 million ($10 million) in a Series A round of funding for Cheeris, a Guangzhou-based hair accessories maker. The investment was made both from its renminbi and US dollar-denominated vehicles.
PE-backed Ozner Water targets $158m Hong Kong IPO
Ozner Water International, a Chinese water purifier manufacturer backed by SAIF Partners, Ares Management and Goldman Sachs, wants to raise up to HK$1.23 billion ($158 million) through a Hong Kong IPO.
Rival bidder emerges for Fosun, Ardian target Club Med
Investindustrial - a fund led by Italian businessman Andrea Bonomi - has made a takeover bid for for Club Méditerranée (Club Med), which is already being courted by Chinese conglomerate Fosun International and PE firm Ardian.
China's Sailing, Sanpower buy bankrupt US retailer
Sailing Capital and Chinese retail conglomerate Sanpower Group have bought Brookstone, a US luxury-gadget retailer, for more than $173 million at a bankruptcy auction.
SIGVC invests in China Resources' online drug platform
Shanghai International Group Venture Capital (SIGVC) has provided a RMB300 million ($48 million) Series A round funding for J1.com, an online drug store launched by China Resources Holdings.
China education investment: Competitive edge
Five months into 2014 and PE activity in China’s education sector is at its highest level in six years. Wary of the issues tied to creating a large footprint, investors are picking their segments and geographies carefully
PEP to list Australian paper maker Asaleo for $642m
Pacific Equity Partners-owned paper maker Asaleo Care is looking to raise A$690 million ($642 million) in what would be the biggest Australian IPO this year.
Carlyle acquires Japanese noodle snack maker
The Carlyle Group has acquired a controlling stake in Oyatsu Company, the Japanese manufacturer of Baby-Star ramen snacks.
APG invests $650m in Warburg Pincus-backed e-Shang
Dutch pension fund APG Asset Management will invest up to $650 million for a 20% stake in Chinese warehousing developer and operator e-Shang.
Bertelsmann, NVP back India furniture marketplace
Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and international media company Bertelsmann have teamed up to invest in Pepperfry.com, an Indian online marketplace specializing in furniture and home accessories.
GGV leads $15m round for Southeast Asia taxi-booking app
GGV Capital has led a Series B round of funding worth more than $15 million for GrabTaxi, a Southeast Asia-focused taxi-booking mobile phone app.
Sequoia leads $100m round for Korean e-commerce platform
South Korean e-commerce platform Coupang has raised a $100 million round of funding led by Sequoia Capital that is said to value the company at more than $1 billion.
PE-backed Café Coffee Day eyes $1b India IPO - report
Café Coffee Day - the Indian café chain backed by KKR, Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE)and New Silk Route Advisors (NSR) - is said to be considering an IPO next year.