This year Greater China has not seen a single private equity fund secure more than $5 billion—the traditional definition of a mega-fund—making 2023 potentially the first year without one since 2015.
The largest vehicle to close this year is he yuan-denominated fund is nearly double the size of the next largest vehicle: the state-backed Maotai Jinshi Industry Development Fund.
The dearth of outsized funds in Greater China—a region including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan—coincides with a broader PE slowdown that has been particularly acute in China.
The last time a Greater China-based PE fund reached mega-fund status was when Baring Private Equity Asia, now part of EQT, raised $11.2 billion for its eighth flagship vehicle in 2022. The last peak for mega fund activity in the region was in 2021 when KKR raised $14.7 billion for its Hong Kong-based Asian Fund IV and Hillhouse Capital raised $13.3 billion for its Beijing-based Fund V.
Currently, there are other Greater China-based mega-funds in the market that may yet close before the year is out. Among them are Hong Kong-based fund PAG Asia IV and Carlyle Asia Partners VI—the latter is targeting $8.5 billion, while the former reportedly had to revise down its target from $9 billion to $6 billion amid a tough fundraising environment.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly described Warburg Pincus RMB Fund as having raised $3 billion in commitments, making its the biggest Greater China fund close in 2023. The fund corpus was in fact 3 billion Chinese yuan (around $442 million), making it the 11th biggest fund.
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