Analysis
AVCJ Awards 2016: Fundraising of the Year - Large Cap: PAG Asia Capital
Having paid careful attention to liquidity levels in its debut vehicle, PAG Asia Capital took less than seven months to close its second regional fund at $3.6 billion
AVCJ Awards 2016: Exit of the Year - Mid Cap: Golden Foods Siam
Golden Foods Siam was struggling when Navis Capital Partners took it over, but the GP’s willingness to give management the needed tools helped generate a 3.4x return
AVCJ Awards 2016: Exit of the Year - Large Cap: Loen Entertainment
Vertical integration and growing interest in Korean media assets enabled Affinity Equity Partners to secure a strong return on Loen Entertainment, far quicker than anticipated
AVCJ Awards 2016: Deal of the Year - Large Cap: Golden Apple Education
PAG Asia Capital spent 12 months negotiating over Golden Apple Education Group, but emerged with the first sizeable buyout-cum-restructuring by a foreign PE firm in China
AVCJ Awards 2016: Deal of the Year - Late Stage Tech: Go-Jek
As an early-mover in Indonesia’s online-to-offline space, Go-Jek has built up a presence in 14 verticals. Its Series D round is intended to help consolidate this dominant position
AVCJ Awards 2016: Deal of the Year - Early Stage Tech: Zai Lab
Zai Lab has carved a niche licensing pre-clinical findings from the West for development into drugs in China, but its ambitions are global. Several VCs have faith in the project
AVCJ Awards 2016: Operational Value Add: China Hydroelectric
NewQuest Capital Partners inspired fellow shareholders in China Hydroelectric to back an aggressive take-private and achieve a seven-fold hike in equity value
AVCJ Awards 2016: Firm of the Year & Fundraising of the Year - Mid Cap: Quadrant Private Equity
Australia-based Quadrant Private Equity has made a habit of six-week fundraises. The capital continues to target middle-market consolidation plays
Portfolio: The Longreach Group and Primo Japan
The Longreach Group bought Primo Japan last year to bring its bridal jewelry focus region-wide. China expansion is the first step toward the company’s Asian leadership
2016 in review: Uncertainty reigns
Infrastructure and late-stage technology among the few investment bright spots; renminbi vehicles dominate the fundraising landscape; public market instability undermines exit plans
China VC: Early birds
With concerns that China's venture capital boom is heading for a bust, investors are increasingly targeting early-stage strategies. Renminbi funds are also coming more into the reckoning
India infrastructure: Finding on-ramps
As capital patterns in the Indian infrastructure space evolve, the opportunity sets for private equity are being reshaped. Precisely calculated entry strategies will be the key to success
India fundraising: Bifurcation point
Only a handful of India-focused private equity firms have shown they are able to raise funds $500 million or more. With LPs still wavering on India, however, membership of this select group is not guaranteed
India exits: Diamonds in the rough
Exit opportunities are available for savvy investors in India, and market professionals say prospects are good in the long term. But GPs are likely to continue to find the near future difficult
India VC: Growing pains
The growth potential of India’s technology sector is unquestioned, but there have been relatively few spin-outs to threaten the incumbents. A couple of track record-boosting IPOs would help matters
Secondaries: The personal edge
Deep relationships within the GP community can make all the difference in terms of sourcing opportunities – and acting on them quickly – in Asia’s increasingly competitive secondaries market
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
Portfolio: IVFA and India's HiCare
IVFA bought HiCare with an eye to cornering India’s nascent pest control market, but the firm’s ambitions for the company are much greater
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'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
Chinese LPs: Untapped potential
Still at an early stage of its development, China’s LP community has minimal exposure to offshore private equity. Institutions with big checkbooks aren’t necessarily the fastest movers
Tech & government: Living laboratories
As governments of Southeast Asia’s emerging economies look to create more workable VC policy environments, start-ups and investors have proliferated across a patchwork of imperfect systems
Tech & government: 20 years of early days
Since the dawn of the internet in the mid-1990s spurred a global rebalancing of economic power, Asia’s newest VC heavyweights have raised questions as to how this technology-driven shift will be governed
Transition time: Succession planning in private equity
Asian GPs face increased scrutiny on succession planning as LPs seek to distinguish franchises that are sustainable from those that are not. For some founders, sharing economics and power isn’t easy