Carlyle Raises $354 Million for China Domestic Fund
July 30, 2010, 12:20 AM EDTBy Cathy Chan
(Updates with comment from Yang in second paragraph.)
July 30 (Bloomberg) -- Carlyle Group said it raised 2.4 billion yuan ($354 million) for its Beijing yuan-denominated fund in its first closing and plans to reach the target by doubling the capital this year.
“We got preliminary indications which will take us to 5 billion yuan by year end,” said Yang Xiangdong, head of Carlyle Asia Partners, in a phone interview. Private-equity firms typically close funds to start investing and may reopen them for further raisings once the money has been invested and depending on market conditions.
Washington-based Carlyle, the world’s second-biggest private-equity firm, also formed an investment management venture with Beijing State-owned Capital Operation and Management Center, the biggest state-owned enterprise in the Chinese capital, according to a company press release today.
Carlyle will own 80 percent of the venture, which will be an adviser to the domestic fund, the private-equity company said. The fund will invest alongside the Asia buyout group of Carlyle,, which manages more than $5 billion in three dollar-denominated funds and invests in “large growth companies” in the region, according to the release.
The U.S. firm now operates two yuan-denominated funds in China after receiving approval in March to form a $100 million fund with Fosun Group, a Chinese privately owned company whose businesses span steel, mining and property.
Blackstone Group LP was the first global private-equity firm to set up a 5 billion yuan fund with the Shanghai government in August last year to target investments in the eastern coastal city and neighboring areas.
China is stepping up efforts to build its own private- equity industry as the government seeks to foster corporate governance and strengthen capital markets.
--Editors: Andreea Papuc, Ben Richardson.
To contact the reporter on this story: Cathy Chan in Hong Kong at kchan14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Brett Miller at bmiller30@bloomberg.net
