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Asia & Australasia: July 2003

Private equity fuels Australian IPO wave, CDC looks to close two Asian funds by October and Asian fundraising appears to be stabilising…

Asian private equity fundraising stabilising but investment activity picking up
Asian private equity fundraising appears to be stabilising after a long period of decline and there were encouraging signs about investment activity in the first half of the year, according to figures from the Asian Venture Capital Journal. Asian private equity firms raised $1.5bn in the first half of the year, broadly on course to meet the $3bn raised in the whole of 2002. The total amount of private equity capital under management now totals $93.2bn compared with $88.7bn last year, the AVCJ said. The improvement in investment activity was more positive. The first half of the year saw 157 transactions worth $6.6bn compared with a total for the whole of 2002 of $8.9bn.
AVCJ July 2003

Private equity powers new Australian IPO wave
The six largest private equity groups in Australia are set to unleash their first big wave of initial public offerings over the course of the next 18 months, raising a potential $1.86bn. The source of these IPOs is largely traditional industries such as manufacturing or retail. Australia was the world's fourth largest IPO market in the first half of 2003, with $1.4bn raised from three issues.
The New Zealand Herald 15.7.03

CDC raising two Asian funds
CDC Capital Partners is raising two funds that are to focus on investments in Asia. The first is a $100m fund to target Malaysia, while the second is looking to raise $150m and will be for investments in India. Both funds are set to close by the end of October 2003. CDC was previously 100 per cent owned by the British government before undergoing a restructuring into three separate areas - a management company, MANCO, an investment company, INVESCO, and a series of separate funds.
AVCJ July 2003

Malaysia set for private equity boost
IDB Infrastructure Fund, a $1bn private equity fund set up by the Islamic Development Bank, has allocated $200m for investment in various projects in Malaysia. The firm is particularly interested in the country's power industry and transportation sectors, including ports and airlines. The IDB fund focuses solely on infrastructure investments in Muslim countries and promotes the use of Islamic finance.
AVCJ July 2003