Hong Kong Investors Form Fund

JAIC International (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd. and Crosby Asset Management announced a first close of $10 million on a joint, private equity fund. The firms expect the fund, which will focus on mature/pre-IPO stage companies in the greater China region, to reach $50 million when it reaches closes in the third quarter, PE Week has learned.

The initial commitments for the JAIC-Crosby Greater China Investment Fund came from Crosby Asset Management, JAIC and “friends of the firm,” including previous limited partners in JAIC and Crosby funds. Neither of the Hong Kong-based firms would identify prospective LPs, but they expect investments to come from institutions and high net-worth families from Japan, Hong Kong, the Middle East and Europe.

Johnny Chan, the group managing director at Crosby Asset Management, will head the joint fund.

The JAIC-Crosby fund will invest between $2 million to $4 million in firms meeting its profile, in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, with a goal of taking them public. The fund will have no limitation on its market sectors of interest, but will initially look at investments into consumer electronics, software and wireless companies.

JAIC International is a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan Asia Investment Co. Ltd., one of the largest listed venture capital investment companies in Japan.

Crosby is the asset management arm of Crosby Capital Partners, an independent corporate finance and investment banking firm with offices in Hong Kong and London.