Opinion
Have your say in the China Awards
As anyone who has been reading AVCJ’s coverage in recent months will know, China fundraising disappointed in 2012. Country-focused funds attracted just $23.4 billion, down 51.3% on the previous year. The damage was done in the second half, and mainly...
Transition time
China has now completed the second smooth leadership transition in its modern history, with Xi Jinping assuming the role of president - he had already been named to the arguably more important posts of chairman of the Central Military Commission and general...
Tougher this time
A number of PE executives - old enough to have seen several cycles – have commented on how difficult the fundraising environment is at present. “I thought my last fundraising [in 2004] was very difficult. Now that I am raising my current fund, the...
Hunting the lion city
When John Tsang, Hong Kong’s financial secretary, extended the private equity industry a significant tax incentive in last week’s budget, it was presented in the wider context of encouraging more funds to domicile in the territory. In some quarters,...
AVCJ launches iOS app
Those readers who were around 10 years ago are likely to have stark memories of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, the disease that struck fear into Asia's communities and temporarily laid waste to economies. Needless to say, private equity and...
The perils of over-ambition
Asahi's acquisition of Independent Liquor came towards the end of a period of frenetic outbound activity among Japanese beverage giants. Kirin bought Australia’s Lion Nathan, took a minority stake in Singapore-based Fraser &Neave and then rounded it...
A platform for private equity
A few weeks ago, I met the head of private equity of one of the largest pension funds in Asia and the world. A very impressive guy with terrific insight of the market, our conversation was great (from my standpoint) until I invited him to attend (and...
RMB funds: Beyond the hype
Last week AVCJ held its six-monthly media briefing at which we – joined by several industry participants – reviewed private equity activity in 2012 and offered views as to what 2013 might have in store. The data made for sober reading: Fundraising...
IPOs for Asian PE firms: Too hasty?
For several years now, rumors have ebbed and flowed about CDH Investments going public. Industry participants regard IPOs by private equity firms on Asian bourses as a virtual certainty, when the time is right. If any Chinese firm was going to make the...
IPOs, and other China exits
Hony Capital was responsible for one of the more unusual transactions of the holiday period. The private equity firm provided the cash option for shareholders who didn’t want to participate in China International Marine Containers’ conversion of its...
Positive vibes spread on Korea
As I noted in a viewpoint piece last September, private equity in South Korea is seeing a revival internationally. The market has steadily worked its way back from one populated almost exclusively by local GPs – most of them subsidiaries of securities...
LPs on Asia: The risk factor
Proximity is reassuring. It shouldn't be surprising that a corporate governance scandal in Asia triggers concerns among institutional investors in North America who are far removed from the information flow and first hear the news via newspaper headlines...
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...
Teutonic ambitions
Another week, another Chinese strategic acquisition of a German manufacturing asset. The most recent case involves Fusheng Industrial, Greater China's leading producer of industrial air compressors, buying its German rival ALMiG Kompresssoren.
Indian PE: Time to return?
We are proud to be hosting the 13th annual AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum India in Mumbai this year. The sentiment for the 2012 event seems somewhat different from previous years. Obviously, we all know that private equity in India is in a state...
Please vote in the AVCJ India Awards
Voting has opened for the 2012 AVCJ Indian Private Equity & Venture Capital Awards. The region’s private equity community has until November 26 to pay tribute to the leading fundraising, investments, exits, individuals and firms of the past 12 months.
A question of discipline
Should managers be frowned upon for cutting fund sizes and returning capital to investors? No – provided the decision is strategically justified.
Asian PE – the show that never stops
It is but a few days until the AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum – indeed you may find yourself reading this at the event itself. I am pleased to note that despite the beating private equity has taken in certain markets, our conference is proceeding...
How much is too much?
KKR had received commitments of $6.2 billion for its 11th North American fund as of the end of September. The vehicle, which entered the market in early 2011, has attracted about $700 million from LPs in the last six months and questions are being asked...
Cast your vote in the AVCJ Awards
Voting has opened for the 2012 AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Capital Awards. The region’s private equity community has until October 31 to pay tribute to the leading fundraising, investments, exits, individuals and firms of the past 12 months.
Asian private equity: Education never ends
It is common knowledge that Asian private equity has been going from strength to strength, generating returns that compare increasingly favorably to those of Western Europe and the US. Indeed, recent figures published by Cambridge Associates suggest that...
The revolving door: Chinese LPs and talent retention
Employing people in China, especially at junior level, is an illuminating experience. Job notices provoke a barrage of resumes crammed with work experience. After the customary 30-second scan, you are forced to blink and re-read, asking yourself, “How...
PE marginalized on Japan restructuring
The outbound trend sweeping through Japanese private equity owes a partial debt to last year’s earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis. Yes, the economic, demographic and industrial arguments for overseas expansion have been coalescing for...
Launching the 2012 AVCJ India Awards
India sees relatively few big-ticket private equity deals outside the infrastructure space. As such, Bain Capital’s $851 million investment in Hero Honda Motors last March, was an outlier – and by far the largest buyout of 2011.