Asia Private Equity Weekly News, January 30, 2011

HONG KONG, Jan 30 (Reuters) – News and developments in
Asia private equity from Reuters News for Lunar New Year and the
week ending January 27.
JANUARY 27
INDIAN CONSUMER products maker Jyothy Laboratories
has raised 5.5 billion rupees ($110 million) through a 5-year
loan from Axis Bank to refinance part of the debt it
incurred to acquire a controlling stake in the Indian unit of
Henkel AG, Managing Director Ullas Kamath said.
SOUTH KOREAN regulators endorsed Hana Financial Group Inc’s
3.9 trillion won ($3.48 billion) acquisition of
Korea Exchange Bank, paving the way for U.S. private
equity firm Lone Star’s sale of the local lender and closing the
final chapter of a drawn out and acrimonious saga.
JANUARY 26
SHARES IN solar wafer maker Comtec Solar fell over
5 percent after the Shanghai-based company agreed to buy back
convertible bonds issued to TPG Capital, in a sign that
a glut in the industry is putting expansion plans on hold.
JANUARY 25
PT BANK Himpunan Saudara 1906, a small Indonesian
lender, plans to expand in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy by
bringing in a strategic investor through a rights issue next
year.
JANUARY 24
MOUNT KELLETT Capital Management has agreed to invest $225
million in Australia’s Lynas Corp through a convertible
bond, giving the rare earths miner a cheaper source of funding
to finish building its flagship plant in Malaysia, which is
awaiting a licence to open.
BC PARTNERS-owned health club operator Fitness First is set
to meet lenders to discuss a potentially looming covenant breach
as well as its debt maturities, Thomson Reuters LPC reported,
citing sources close to the company.
JANUARY 23
INDIA’S RED Fort Capital has raised $500 million for its
real estate private equity fund, aimed at tapping increasing
demand for housing and commercial spaces in Asia’s third largest
economy, its top official said.
JANUARY 20
BARING PRIVATE Equity Asia acquired 15 percent of Magic
Holdings, a unit of listed Huan Han Bio-Pharmaceutical Holdings
Ltd, for around HK$451 million ($58 million), Hua Han
said in a statement.
TPG and Singapore sovereign fund GIC will invest
around $115 million in China sportwear maker Li Ning Co Ltd
through a convertible bond, giving much needed capital
to a company whose stock fell more than 60 percent last year.
CARLYLE GROUP has sold 18 million shares in China
Pacific Insurance (Group) Co Ltd, taking its holding
below 5 percent, CPIC said.
PT ANCORA Indonesia Resources, a resources-focused
investment firm, aims to take advantage of the nation’s coal
boom by tripling its ammonium nitrate production, said the
firm’s chief executive.
ASIAN INVESTORS will account for over 20 percent of central
London office property deals this year, attracted by the British
capital’s safe-haven allure, transparency and high returns,
property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle said.
JANUARY 19
JAPAN’S UNISON Capital cut the size of one of the largest
private equity funds in Japan by around a quarter to 107 billion
yen ($1.4 billion) in October due to limited opportunities for
new deals, two sources familiar with the matter said.
BLACKSTONE GROUP LP said that it is actively pursuing
further property investments in China, after a fund it controls
turned a profit on the sale of its stake in a real-estate joint
venture with Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd.
INDIA’S KINGFISHER Airlines is in talks with Hong
Kong-based distressed debt firm SC Lowy Financial for a possible
investment, a sign the cash-strapped carrier may be running out
of more attractive traditional funding options.
JANUARY 18
OLYMPUS CAPITAL said it has invested 5 billion rupees (about
$98.7 million) for a significant minority stake in Indian
healthcare firm, DM Healthcare Pvt Ltd.
JANUARY 17
HEDGE FUNDS owning a large chunk of the $2.8 billion debt in
Australia’s Nine Entertainment, owned by buyout firm CVC
, have prepared a proposal to convert their debt into
equity in the TV network, a source told Reuters, in a plan that
would wipe out most of CVC’s equity.
NEW SILK Route Partners, an Asia-focused private equity
fund, said it picked a significant minority stake in educational
support services provider Varsity Education Management Pvt Ltd
for an undisclosed sum.
ANALYSIS-OLYMPUS Corp should be the easiest of
takeover targets: a profitable business with its share price in
tatters, its management in utter disgrace and its balance sheet
in need of fresh capital. But not in Japan.
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