United States private equity giant the Carlyle Group yesterday announced investments worth a combined US$27 million in two mainland companies.
Carlyle Asia Venture Partners II, a venture-capital fund established with US$170 million in 2002, has teamed up with China Merchant Fortune Ventures and Sino-Korean Wireless Fund to invest US$14 million in online game developer and entertainment portal 9you, known as Runstar International outside China.
Asia Venture, along with Chengwei Ventures and Pacific Venture Partners, is also investing a combined US$13 million in Shanghai-based Huaya Microelectronics, a semiconductor designer.
In September, Carlyle announced a US$15 million investment in mainland outdoor advertising specialist Target Media.
Wayne Tsou, Carlyle Group managing director and head of Asia Venture, said there was no timeframe for initial public offerings [IPO] for any of the firms in Carlyle's China portfolio.
'When the company achieves sufficient operating and financial scale and market position, then a capital market mechanism such as an IPO will take care of itself,' Mr Tsou said.
