JPM To Invest $200M In PE In China

One Equity Partners, a global private equity investment arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co., plans to invest $200 million in China over the next two to three years and has partnered with Chinese conglomerate Beijing Capital Group in identifying investment opportunities, according to sister news service Reuters.

The capital would come from a $3 billion global fund One Equity Partners currently manages, and the tie-up with Beijing Capital would allow the two companies to invest in each other’s portfolios, partner Ryan Shih told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Beijing.

Separately, a Beijing Capital executive said it has launched a yuan-denominated private equity fund worth $150 million, with half of its committed capital from foreign investors including Lexington and a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund. Foreign private equity investors including Blackstone Group, TPG Capital and Carlyle Group are rushing to invest in China or launch yuan funds in China, seeking exposure to the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

“Today, renminbi PE is a dominant force in China, and China is the No.1 market for IPOs in the world,” Omer Ozden, partner of the private equity unit of Beijing Capital, said. Shanghai has recently allowed qualified foreign private equity investors to convert hard currencies into the yuan for investment under the so-called Qualified Foreign Limited Partner scheme, and Beijing is expected to follow suit soon.

Foreign investment will account for half of Beijing Capital’s new yuan fund, with the remainder coming from domestic investors, Ozden said.

(Samuel Shen is is a correspondent for Reuters news service in Shanghai; additional reporting by Langi Chiang and Ken Wills in Beijing.)