SPEAKING OF PRIVATE EQUITY IN ASIA... J.P. MORGAN PARTNERS ASIA CLOSES A $1.58 BILLION FUND

HatTip to Lenny. I received an email on this article from my younger bro, which was nice timing since I wrote an op-ed (prior post below) related to the article this past week.

Trying to get ahead of the private-equity crowd now racing into Asia, J.P. Morgan Partners Asia completed a $1.58 billion fund raising -- its second -- for the region.

"When we first entered Asia, nobody was raising money to invest in buyouts in Asia," says Arnold Chavkin, the chief investment officer of the fund. "The fact that there are so many new entrants shows that private equity in Asia is becoming a viable agent for change."

There are signs in some markets of an increasing receptivity to foreign capital. Firms that customarily have shunned Japan, such as Newbridge Capital, an affiliate of Texas Pacific Group and Blum Capital Partners LP (also in the midst of a large fund raising), and J.P. Morgan Partners LLC, the global private-equity arm of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., expect more deal flow from the world's second-largest economy. And in China, several deals that have been on-again, off-again for months if not years -- such as the Carlyle Group's acquisition of a large stake in China Pacific Life Insurance Co. -- finally appear close to completion. (See related article.)

Moreover, many of the family-owned firms of Asia, faced with generational change and the need to introduce more professional management, are more open to approaches from the buyout firms, Mr. Chavkin says. (full article)