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European PE giant opens Beijing office

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-08 11:15

CVC Capital Partners (CVC), a leading global private equity (PE) firm, announced on Monday the opening of its Beijing office as it looked to China for more investment opportunities.

It was the European giant's first Chinese mainland office and sixth in Asia.

"China is no doubt one of our most important investment destinations," said Zhu Wei, CVC China managing director and Beijing office chief.

CVC's Asia Pacific senior advisor Liang Botao added: "Though China faces the challenge of high-inflationary pressure, which was a global phenomenon, it still has good prospects in the long term in terms of macro-economic conditions, infrastructure and economic status around the world."

He said CVC would look for companies that could survive the economic adjustment and bring high returns in future.

CVC Asia managing director He Zhijie said the company would focus on consumer-product manufacturing apart from the real estate sector.

In April, CVC raised $4.1 billion for its third Asian fund, the biggest ever raised in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Now it's a good time for investing as companies used to ask for prices several times the present level last year and the year before when share prices surged," Liang said.

China's private equity market continued to expand in the second quarter, with the total value of 33 disclosed projects reaching $2.56 billion, up 10.7 percent from the first quarter.

The 33 private equity investments were made in 14 industries, among which manufacturing, energy and mining appeared more attractive, according to China Venture.

Apart from the CVC, other major foreign PE companies competing in China included Carlyle Group, Goldman Sachs Group, Texas Pacific Group (TPG) and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co, among others.

Meanwhile, more than 10 domestic securities companies were expected to be approved for conducting PE business by year-end, said researcher Wang Ou of the China Securities Regulatory Commission on Sunday.

Founded in 1981, the Luxembourg-headquartered CVC currently manages about $46 billion worldwide.