Analysis
Japanese LPs: Conservative investors
With Japanese LPs still wary of private equity investing amidst ongoing global economic uncertainty, GPs find it difficult to secure commitments
Fund formation: Singapore asserts its onshore qualities
Until two months ago, Han Ming Ho, a Singapore-based partner at Clifford Chance specializing in fund formation, had never heard of buyout firms using his home city as a conduit for investments into Australia. “It had never been mentioned before and then...
Australia portfolio companies: Debt burdens
High profile debt woes among portfolio companies in Australia has put some private equity firms on the defensive – for now
Telecom firms struggle to offload towers
India’s cellular towers are crucial in supporting its burgeoning mobile market, but when it comes to selling these assets, operators find that less may be more
India's alternative lenders
India needs alternative funding channels. A characteristic of most financial sectors in emerging nations is limited product range, which means capital often fails to reach those enterprises with the potential to deliver the best returns. A truck company,...
Investors in the dark on Indonesian bank ownership
Foreign investors in Indonesian banks might soon face a conundrum: After years spent working to establish a local presence in the market, they may be forced to sell down.
Group-buying sites remain a VC risk
Group-buying websites in China is the trend that keeps on growing. In the last 18 months, an estimated 3,600 participants entered the market. Industry sources say 10% of those have received capital from outside sources – much of it from domestic and overseas...
Chinese outbound M&A: Unfamiliar territory
Griffin's Foods is inching its way to market. For some weeks now, rumors have been circulating that Pacific Equity Partners (PEP)-owned New Zealand snack foods business was being primed for sale. The whispers accelerated last week when reports emerged...
Japanese outbound M&A: Strategic imperative
Indonesian snacks and beverages producer GarudaFood appeared to be heading The Carlyle Group’s way in mid-June. The PE firm was said to have outbid Japanese beverage firm Suntory by agreeing to pay $200 million for a 25% stake in the company. Then silence....
PE firms struggle to secure Woori stake
It was the $6 billion question: Would the Korean government sell control of the country’s third-largest lender to a private equity firm? Had the answer been yes - and Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. (KDIC) exited Woori Financial Group to one of three local...
Private equity's fashion fix
Fashionable women the world over aspire to own something – a handbag, a coat, a pair of leather pumps – by a designer of such legacy and prestige as Valentino. But in May 2007, global private equity investor Permira pulled the ultimate one-upmanship:...
Japan's airlines explore budget options
The next 18 months will see Japan finally fall in with what has become an established trend regional and global aviation and roll-out low cost carriers (LCCs). Private equity has featured in the development of these airlines in Asia, notably Malaysia-based...
Australia pursues Myer profits offshore
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) tells AVCJ that it can’t comment on an ongoing legal matter. This is unfortunate because no else understands how the country’s main revenue collector picks its fights – or what message it wants to send to foreign investors....
PE targets deep distress
As Asian economic development becomes increasingly interlocked, regionally and globally, contractual arrangements are getting more complex. This is pointedly clear when problems, such as non-payment of large sums owed, occur. One prominent Asian distress...
Should private equity investors trust IRR?
Since the early days of private equity, the internal rate of return (IRR) has served as the industry’s prime metric. It is perhaps best known as the gauge which underpins fund managers’ claims that they deliver better returns than the public equity markets....
Secondaries: The direct approach
Working for a fund held captive or semi-captive within an investment bank is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it promises access to deal flow and resources that independent funds can only wish for. On the other, it is hard to raise money from third...
Secondaries in Asia: Small beginnings
The global secondary investments industry announced its arrival in Asia not with a bang, but with a spate of office rentals. HarbourVest Partners’ moved first, relocating Tim Flower, a London-based vice president, to Hong Kong in October of last year....
PE firms clean China's water
The availability of water to feed China’s citizens and its growing industries has become a top priority for the government in recent years. It is now well known that the country’s per capita water resources are one quarter of the global average. Greenpeace...
PE and the debt crisis: Coping with chaos
Private equity investors, accustomed to 5-7 year horizons, shouldn’t be overly concerned by short-term fluctuations in the public markets. It is a reassuring boilerplate statement, but given the volatility of the last fortnight, perhaps it is easier said...
Japanese property plays
Distressed investment in Japan is very much a real estate game and the opportunities are considerable – provided you can get a seat at the table. Long-term market participants are eying office buildings in major cities such as Tokyo and Osaka, aware that...
Turnarounds in Thailand
Any discussion of private equity opportunities in Southeast Asia seems to hone in on Indonesia. Rich in commodities and with high household consumption levels, the country is perceived as large and lucrative enough for big ticket transactions. Thailand...
CITIC's mezzanine initiative still veiled in secrecy
The news was brief yet had potentially far-reaching consequences: the private equity arm of Chinese financial behemoth CITIC Group would launch a RMB5 billion ($777 million) renminbi-denominated mezzanine fund.
Indonesia's GPs: Subscriptions wanted
Around 15 Fund-of-Funds LPs descended on Jakarta earlier this year to conduct due diligence on Northstar Pacific Partners’ third buyout fund. The Indonesian private equity firm set an initial target of $500 million but the final close is believed to be...
India regulation: SEBI takes a stand
The Uniqueness of India's private equity sector is a product of its own unsystematic development – a process that has been largely hands-off from a regulatory standpoint, cultivated by the professionals, emerging investors and the spinoff funds within...