HSBC targets Asia

HSBC is providing investors with the opportunity to participate in the burgeoning Asian markets by introducing the HSBC Asian Ventures Syndicate, which aims to provide long term capital growth through private equity investments in small to medium sized technology-driven businesses in Asia, with a particular focus on China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan.

The syndicate has been set up to invest in the HSBC Asian Ventures Fund 2 Limited (the Fund) advised by HSBC Private Equity Technology Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Private Equity (Asia) Limited. The sectors that have been singled out as having the potential to deliver high growth in revenue and profit include: communication and wireless products, software applications, information technology products and services, and Internet-related applications and services.

HSBC Republic Investments Limited, as a distributor of this product, believes there are attractive private equity opportunities in Asia given the following: demand for information technology products and services to upgrade existing infrastructure and systems in Asia; Asia’s competitive cost structure, especially in skilled labour, that is driving an outsourcing trend for technology services from companies in more developed markets; the presence of highly developed clusters of activity in certain technology sectors in China, South Korea and Taiwan; the often lower valuation multiples in Asian stock markets as compared with Europe and the US; and the recovery in recent years of regional capital markets and increasing regional merger and acquisition activity that may lead to attractive exit opportunities over the life of the fund

The minimum commitment for investors in the syndicate is US$250,000 and the target syndicate size is US$40m. The initial closing will be on 28 February, 2005, when the fund is expected to close with committed capital of US$80m. For more on Asia see the next issue of EVCJ.