Official Record

China B2B platform targets supply chain disruption

Chinese B2B trading platforms Zhaogang.com and Zhaosuliao.com share more than just a desire to bring about technology-enabled disruption of inefficient offline industry supply chains. They also have several backers in common: IDG Capital Partners, Matrix...

Hahn & Co gets $1.9b for two funds

Christmas holidays are a rarity at Hahn & Co. The Korean buyout firm’s acquisition of Posfine, a slag powder business owned by steelmaker Posco, closed on December 30. The 2013 seasonal period was dominated by negotiations over a majority stake in Hanjin’s...

Fortune backs Huimin's B2C-B2B switch

Huimin started out in 2012 as an online B2C platform, enabling Chinese consumers to order daily household items from small-scale supermarkets in their neighborhood. The supermarkets took care of the delivery and Huimin got a commission on each transaction....

CDC banks on rail to share the wealth

Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state in India, is served by just two rail freight container terminals. They are located in the northern industrial hotbed of Kanpur, with one operated by Pristine Logistics & InfraProjects and the other by Concor.

Longreach puts a ring on it

Is the spirit of romance ebbing away in Japan? Naoki Sawano, president of bridal jewelry specialist Primo Japan, suggested as much a couple of years ago. He held a trend among young people “to think of the proposal and the engagement ring as two separate...

China's Banyan fast-tracks Fund II

The launch of Banyan Capital's second US dollar-denominated fund came sooner than expected. The China-focused VC firm, which spun out from IDG Capital Partners and closed its debut vehicle at $206 million just over 12 months ago, had the Fund II launch...

ClearVue's cross-border cosmetic play

Beauty is a big business for ClearVue Partners. Sales of cosmetic products in China grew 10% year-on-year between 2008 and 2013. The market is thought to be worth $80 billion with plenty of room for further growth.

China's Meituan enters the big league

Asked whether, two years ago, he could have envisaged Chinese group-buying site Meituan achieving a $7 billion valuation Feng Deng, founding managing director of Northern Light Venture Capital, gives a swift no.

Goldman backs Antuit's big data ambitions

Various factors influence the amount of milk a cow produces – breed, diet, weather, living conditions and the calving cycle among them. Working with one of its clients, dairy giant Fonterra, Singapore-headquartered big data analytics firm Antuit now collects...

Deal focus: Macro headwinds weigh on Peoplebank exit

Not every investment works out as planned - often for reasons beyond the investor's control. Navis Capital Partners recently sold Australia-based IT and specialist recruiting firm Peoplebank to Japan's Recruit Holdings for A$68.6 million ($56.6 million)....

KKR's long-term India real estate solution

When KKR set up its first India-based non-banking financial company (NBFC) in 2009 to provide structured credit solutions to entrepreneurs, it was funded off the firm's own balance sheet. A few years on, it was reported that third-party investors were...

Investors back WeLab's financial innovation

For Hong Kong-based financial technology start-up WeLab, setting up a peer-to-peer lending (P2P) platform was never the priority. Rather, the company wanted to develop and leverage its capabilities in the design of internet finance products and big data...

Samurai Incubate targets Tel Aviv

When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe travels to Israel later this month it will be the first time a Japanese leader has visited the country since Junichiro Koizumi in 2006.

NZ Super, Infratil target aged care integration

Morrison & Co, an investment manager of New Zealand-listed infrastructure fund Infratil, has been looking into Australian retirement village space for a while. In early 2014, it approached RetireAustralia, the country’s fourth-largest player, as a potential...

MSPEA enters the China hospital space

To Homer Sun, CIO at Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia (MSPEA), the current climate in China’s hospital services space is reminiscent of pharmaceuticals circa 2008. Government policy was pushing the industry towards consolidation and MSPEA capitalized,...

EQT bakery investment proves out

EQT's 2010 acquisition of a controlling stake in Chongqing New Qinyuan Bakery – which it has just exited to Swire Pacific – was something of a coup for the European mid-market GP. Not only did the firm overcome several competitors, but it also managed...

Hony takes a trip to Tuniu

A private funding round was not Tuniu’s original plan. Earlier this month, the US-listed Chinese online package tour provider informed regulators that it wanted to raise $100 million via a public offering.