Deals

Study: Chinese investment hits $4.8bn in May(4)

One large PIPE deal accounted for the lion’s share of private equity investment in the country, while fundraising figures underline the Chinese government’s 'robust support' for the asset class.

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Chinese private equity investment hit $4.8 billion in May, driven largely by a single transaction involving listed group China Construction Bank (CCB).

Private equity firms completed 15 deals in the month, but the landscape was dominated by a PIPE transaction in which firms including Hopu Investment Management acquired a minority stake in China Construction Bank from the Bank of America for a consideration of about $4.6 billion, according to Zero2IPO Research Centre, a Chinese data provider.

Temasek Holdings, one of two Singaporean sovereign wealth funds, also increased its stake in China Construction Bank as part of the transaction.

According to the research, the IT sector was the most popular in terms of total number of deals, accounting for five of the 15, closely followed by the services sector, which saw four deals.

Fundraising figures show “robust government support” for the private equity industry in China, according to the report, as of the eight new private equity funds launched there in May, one was established by a local guidance fund and three were established using local public finance and state-sourced capital. The total target for the eight funds launched is $4.74 billion.