Published by Asia Asset Management – 4th July 2018
Hong Kong-based Value Partners Group Limited (Value Partners) is launching its first private equity fund in China, with a fundraising target of 5 billion RMB (US$749.8 million).
The VP-CEG China Education Fund will focus on investments in the Mainland’s private higher education and vocational education sector, Value Partners says in a statement on July 2.
The company has signed an agreement with Hong Kong-listed China Education Group Holdings Limited (CEG) to jointly set up the fund, which will have a five-year term that is extendible for two additional one-year periods.
The launch is targeted for early 2019, subject to regulatory approval, a spokeswoman for Value Partners tells Asia Asset Management.
The company was granted a licence to invest in China’s domestic private equity projects more than three years ago, in March 2015.
It is only now making plans to kick off the business because it believes the timing is appropriate as the private investment market in China has become more mature, according to the spokeswoman.
Value Partners and CEG are limited partners in the VP-CEG China Education Fund and will make an initial contribution of 370 million RMB and 250 million RMB, respectively, the company says.
Their subsidiaries – Value Partners’ private equity firm in Shenzhen, and Huajiao Education Technology (Jiangxi) Co. – are the co-general partners and will “continue to look for limited partners to invest in the fund”.
According to the Value Partners spokeswoman, the first closing investors have already been lined up.
“We are excited to launch our first private equity fund on the mainland of China at a time when Chinese investors are increasingly looking to diversify their investments and the ecosystem for private investments in the market is becoming increasingly more vibrant,” Cheah Cheng Hye, chairman and co-chief investment officer of Value Partners, says in the statement.
King Au, the company’s chief executive officer, adds that the fund marks an “important milestone” in Value Partners’ growth in China and its expansion into alternative investments.
“Together with China Education Group, we aim to offer investors a unique opportunity to participate in the fast-growing China education sector directly,” Dr. Au says.
Value Partners, which set up an investment advisory services business in China in 2009, has been stepping up its expansion in the country since last year.
The company rolled out its first onshore private security fund this January after securing regulatory approval last November.
Value Partners had $18.2 billion of assets under management as at May 2018.
