NDRC gives green light to 4 PE funds

Four new RMB-denominated private-equity funds have secured approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the South China Morning Post reported.

The four funds will focus on sectors such as water treatment, shipbuilding, public works and equipment-making. The approval will add the total number of approved Chinese RMB-denominated industrial funds to 10, which has raised about RMB 140 billion in total.

The Tianjin Bohai Industrial Investment Fund, the first home-grown private-equity fund, was established in at the end of 2006 and has reportedly concluded two deals worth RMB 2.4 billion in total. In contrast, about 100 global private-equity funds injected a total of US$12.82 billion in 177 deals on the mainland last year.

The NDRC also disclosed that it was drawing up rules governing the local industrial funds and would simplify the approval procedures.