| 作者 |
 VC系列： 红鲱鱼VC in Asia系列: Greater China is where the action is – if you know what you’re doing (转贴) |
 |
安普若
[博客]
[个人文集]
头衔: 海归元勋
声望: 大师
性别: 
加入时间: 2004/02/21
文章: 26038
来自: 中国美国的飞机上
海归分: 4196257
|
|
|
作者：安普若 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
VC in Asia: Greater China is where the action is – if you know what you’re doing
Baring knows the ropes: “The exit is the trick.”
April 12, 2004
For all the excitement about China’s investment potential these days – and anyone you talk to in Asia knows that this is where the attention, if not all the money, is flowing – there is a long history of western firms who've lost their shirts in this developing market. Baring Private Equity Partners Asia (BPEP Asia) is notable not just for having a portfolio with a dozen solid China investments, but it has successfully exited many of them.
“We are very active in China, and one of the few firms that have had positive results here,” says Jean Salata, Baring's managing partner based in Hong Kong. "We’ve made 12 investments in China and had exits on seven of those. The exit is the trick – and we’ve had good success on achieving and realizing results.”
With $560 million in two funds, and 20 investment professionals based in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Delhi, Bombay, and Silicon Valley, BPEP isn’t necessarily the largest investment firm or the biggest dealmaker in Asia, but it has a track record worth watching.
Baring usually takes a minority position, with deals typically running between $5 to $20 million. “Our sweet spot is $10 million,” says Kenneth Cheong, a principal in the Singapore office. Small to mid-sized companies that are growing on the order of 20 to 30 percent per year are most attractive. “We tend to invest in businesses that are growing rapidly but need capital to expand. Although we have also made some investments in early-stage companies,” Mr. Salata adds.
One early-stage investment that has paid off is Netease.com, a leading Chinese portal and provider of Internet services including short message service (SMS) and online gaming. It listed on Nasdaq in 2000 to great fanfare and then rode the dot-com bust down to the depths of penny-stock status, only to recover last year with a 20-fold jump in full-year net profits.
Baring still holds its stake: “We’re the only VC still in the stock,” Mr. Salata notes with some pride. He has high hopes for the future, as Netease builds up its gaming interests – a booming business in China. (Unlike other Chinese gaming companies that license most of their games from Korea, Netease developed its own game, Westward Journey, which is the No.2 game in China).
Another Internet play is New Palm, an SMS company started by John Xiao, the former head of Motorola’s wireless Internet group, which Baring invested into at the peak of the Chinese Internet boom in mid-2000. Baring then sold it to Nasdaq-listed Chinadotcom. “The SMS market is a growing phenomenon in China, but we sense it is tapering off now, which is why we looked to exit” Mr. Salata says, noting, “We made three times our money on that.”
Baring is not exclusively high-tech focused. Last year, for instance, the emphasis in its China investments was in the auto sector. Among them: an investment in Taiwan-based Depo Auto, one of the world’s largest designer and manufacturer of after-market auto headlamps. The company’s IPO on the Taiwanese exchange in March got lost in the news flurry surrounding the shooting of President Chen Shui-bian; the stock has performed well. As of April 1, it was up some 40 percent from its IPO price.
Another auto deal, Shenzhen-based Launch Tech, makes diagnostic kits for cars and targets the car service and repair business both in China as well as in developed markets. Its exit, like many Chinese companies, was via a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Another China play, Comba Telecom Systems, a wireless infrastructure provider, was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last July. Baring sold a block of that investment and made four times its investment on that deal.
Business has been good enough that Baring is in the process of raising another $400 million fund. Geared to focus on manufacturing concerns in Greater China (including Hong Kong, Taiwan, as well as Singapore), it will be launched this summer.
China isn’t the only bright spot: India is increasingly getting attention. Baring's Asian and Indian offices together invested in Mphasis, an IT outsourcing concern that specializes in banking and financial services. Elsewhere in the region is Norelco, a contract manufacturer for precision machining of components, with operations in Singapore, Malaysia, and China. The latest deal Baring has closed is UMS Semicon, (handling the front end of the semiconductor space). When it invested, the deal was worth 130 million Singapore dollars ($77.5 million); Baring had a 15 percent position with options and placement of shares. Following mergers the deal is now worth 500 to 600 million Singapore dollars (approximately $300 to $360 million). Not bad.
Across the Pacific, Baring has a stake in Accellion, a Palo Alto, California-based software company that was started in Singapore and transplanted to Silicon Valley between 2001 and 2003, as the dot-com bust cratered in Asia. Accellion developed software that caches email attachments, sparing overloaded servers and avoiding system crashes. Its CEO is Yorgen Edholm, who founded and built up Brio (backed by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers) to $150 million in revenues before taking it public.
Asked about investment prospects in Korea, Mr. Salata is somewhat circumspect. He points out that prior to 1997, Korea was not even open to foreign investors. It wasn’t until the Asian financial crisis, which hit Korea particularly hard, and the ensuing IMF-mandated reform package, that foreigners showed up in droves, looking to buy up distressed assets.
“For three or four years, lots of money came pouring in, and it was a great place to be,” Mr. Salata recalls.
Baring was there, and its 1999 investment in the restructured Kookmin Bank, Korea’s largest bank, listed on the Korea and New York Stock Exchanges, was “a very successful investment. But now the demand for capital has waned and the window for foreign investment is closing. I’m not sure how much opportunity is there for foreign investors,” Mr. Salata says.
Overall, Mr. Salata is pleased with his Asian strategy, especially the China portfolio. “We found we’ve had a different correlation in terms of our investment cycle than other investors because of the cycle in China. With our domestic companies, which are purely domestic plays, they are more aligned with China's domestic economy. And that is performing very well; we’ve been quite successful through this cycle.”
Mr. Salata, like others with a regional presence, is well aware that many U.S.-based investment houses have noticed China’s growth potential. “I’ve seen a number of firms starting to make the rounds out here,” he notes with bemusement. They will have plenty of learning to do to catch up with the likes of this experienced China player.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VC in Asia is an online column focusing on the rising influence of venture capital in Asia, and its role in the region’s growing economy. Have thoughts or suggestions for VC in Asia? Email the column editor at [email protected].
For more information on the column, see VC in Asia.
作者：安普若 在 海归商务 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
|
|
|
| 返回顶端 |
|
 |
|
-
 VC系列： 红鲱鱼VC in Asia系列: Greater China is where the action is – if you know what you’re doing (转贴) -- 安普若 - (7346 Byte) 2004-5-29 周六, 08:48 (1911 reads)
|
|
|
|
您不能在本论坛发表新主题, 不能回复主题, 不能编辑自己的文章, 不能删除自己的文章, 不能发表投票, 您 不可以 发表活动帖子在本论坛, 不能添加附件不能下载文件, |
|
|
