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another foreign-owned private equity firm has been added.

a reporter from the "daily economic news" learned that the latest registration information released by the china securities investment fund association (hereinafter referred to as the china securities investment fund association) shows that kasikornbank public company limited (hereinafter referred to as kasikornbank)'s kasikorn vision (shanghai) private equity fund management co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as kasikornbank) has successfully completed its registration recently.

the institution is a private equity and venture capital fund manager with its registered address and office address both in pudong new district, shanghai. its registered capital is rmb 33 million and its actual controller is kasikorn vision company limited, a subsidiary of kasikorn bank.

public data shows that kasikornbank was established on june 8, 1945, with its headquarters in bangkok, thailand, and was listed on the stock exchange of thailand in 1976. kasikornbank (china) co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as kasikorn china) officially opened for business on november 6, 2017. it is currently the only asean-invested bank headquartered in shenzhen. its 2023 annual report shows that its total assets are 24.353 billion yuan, with revenue of 348 million yuan and net profit of 11.12 million yuan.

another wholly foreign-owned private equity firm completes filing

at the end of august, another wholly foreign-owned private equity firm completed its registration, namely kaitai vision private equity.

the institution was established in july last year and was wholly owned by kasikorn vision company limited. it is a private equity and venture capital fund manager with a registered capital of 33 million yuan. its registered address is located in lingang new area, china (shanghai) pilot free trade zone, pudong new area, shanghai, and its office address is jinmao tower, no. 88 century avenue, pudong new area, shanghai. it has 6 full-time employees.

according to the official website, kasikorn bank is a joint-stock company registered in thailand. it was established in june 1945 and is headquartered in bangkok, thailand. it was listed on the stock exchange of thailand in 1976.

as one of the four major commercial banks in thailand, kasikornbank was founded in 1945 by a group of thai chinese led by wu bailin. it entered the chinese mainland in 1994 and initially established its first representative office in shenzhen. it was upgraded to a shenzhen branch in 1996 and then became a wholly foreign-owned bank in 2017. currently, kasikornbank has branches in beijing, shenzhen, chengdu, shanghai and shenzhen longgang in china. it is the only asean-invested bank headquartered in shenzhen.

in march this year, kasikorn china and shenzhen general chamber of commerce signed a strategic cooperation memorandum, and the new headquarters of kasikorn china, china resources sungang center, was opened at the same time. at the meeting, kasikorn bank chairman guo gan watanawolangkun pointed out that china and thailand have entered a new era of deeper interconnection and higher-level exchanges. kasikorn bank will take this opportunity to make full use of its advantages in financial services in cross-border payment and settlement, trade and investment, further seize new opportunities in cross-border investment and industrial cooperation, explore international markets, and contribute to deepening the china-thailand partnership.

as a private equity fund management company under kasikornbank, the legal representative and managing director of kasikorn vision private equity is natthorn chaiyapruk. he has served as an account manager of the large corporate banking department of kasikornbank, a senior executive of the investment banking business headquarters of kasikorn securities, director of kasikorn china corporate strategy, and secretary of the board of directors of kasikorn vision co., ltd.

it is worth mentioning that kasikornbank has previously carried out equity investment in china through its subsidiaries. in august 2020, xintairuan, a saas-driven human service industry internet platform, officially announced that it had received a strategic investment in the a+ round from kasikornbank's kasikorn vision investment. the formal completion of the filing of kasikorn vision private equity also indicates that the institution will continue to carry out private equity investment in china in the name of a fund manager.

foreign giants accelerate their layout in the chinese market

earlier this year, kkr's kkr.n private equity, alternative investment firm bowers & wilkins private equity, and hamilton lane private equity, a subsidiary of global private equity giant hamilton lane, completed their filings one after another, sparking market discussions about the accelerated entry of foreign giants into china.

data from private equity ranking network shows that as of march 20, there were 209 wholly foreign-owned private equity firms in the process of filing, of which private equity and venture capital fund managers accounted for the majority, with a total of 151, accounting for 72.25% of the total foreign private equity; there were 34 foreign private securities investment fund managers in the process of filing, accounting for 16.27%; and there were 24 other private investment fund managers, accounting for 11.48%. "the chinese economy is in the process of transformation and industrial upgrading, which is pregnant with major investment opportunities. equity and venture capital are mainly used to support the development of enterprises, and can better enjoy the opportunities brought by china's economic development."

in addition, most foreign private equity firms entered the chinese market relatively early. according to private equity ranking network, private equity was officially legalized in 2014, and 73 foreign private equity firms were registered that year (including those that have been deregistered), accounting for 23.32% of the total number of foreign private equity firms. in the next few years, the overall number of foreign private equity filings showed a downward trend. from 2018 to 2022, the annual number of foreign private equity firms registered was around 30, and then dropped to 10 in 2023, and there is a trend of continued decline in 2024.

data source: private equity ranking network, as of march 20

in addition, the scale of foreign private equity is generally small. as of march 20, among the 209 foreign private equity companies that have been registered, there are 139 and 20 foreign private equity companies with management scale of 0-500 million and 500-1 billion, accounting for 66.51% and 9.57% respectively, which means that nearly 80% of foreign private equity companies are still in the early stages of development and are small in scale; there are 11 and 9 foreign private equity companies with management scale of 5-10 billion and more than 10 billion, accounting for 5.26% and 4.31% respectively, accounting for less than 10% in total; in addition, there are 11 and 19 foreign private equity companies with management scale of 1-2 billion and 2-5 billion, accounting for a total of 14.35%, slightly higher than large-scale foreign private equity companies.

a leading private equity person told the reporter that china has a huge market and consumer group, which provides huge growth potential and investment opportunities for foreign institutions. at the same time, the sustained growth and stable development of the chinese economy is also very attractive to foreign institutions, which in turn shows that these institutions are optimistic about the long-term development prospects of the chinese market. "in addition, the reform and improvement of china's capital market, china's technological innovation and digital transformation, etc. have prompted foreign institutions to actively deploy in the chinese market, such as by establishing private equity funds to seize the opportunities of china's economic development and use the chinese market as part of global asset allocation to achieve risk diversification and maximize returns."

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