Carlyle sees China as most attractive country for PE investment

Rubenstein believes that China offers unrivalled opportunities for private equity because of its fast-growing economy and the sector's low penetration there.

Speaking at a WSJ-hosted conference, he is reported to have said, “I regard China is the single most attractive place in the world for us to invest at the moment.”

Western private equity firms are honing in on China. Last week, Carlyle’s rival Blackstone officially announced the launch of its first yuan-denominated fund.

Carlyle has recently shown an interest in Japan too. Last month the firm agreed to buy Broadleaf, an IT solutions provider for the automotive industry, for 19.5bn yen ($216.3m) and last week submitted proposals to back a management buy out of Chimney Co, a Japanese restaurant chain operator listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, for 21bn yen ($233m).

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