Bahrain-based alternative investment manager, Investcorp and China Everbright Limited, a Hong Kong-based alternative investment firm have announced that they are combining their investment teams financing in the Chinese technology sector.
The combined team and investment committee will jointly manage the China Everbright New Economy Fund I. In addition, Investcorp and China Everbright intend to explore the opportunity to establish a successor private equity fund, jointly managed by the two parties, to further access China’s technology sector, Investcorp stated.
This partnership will draw on Investcorp’s three decades of experience investing globally in the technology sector, and China Everbright’s deep-rooted relationships and expertise in the China market, said the statement.
Commenting on the partnership, Hazem Ben-Gacem, co-CEO of Investcorp, said: “This is our most significant step so far towards expanding our footprint into the fastest growing economy in the world, China, and is in line with our strategy of growing AUM through global expansion.”
“We believe our partnership with Everbright will help grow our investments in China and specifically in the technology sector. Our success in investing in technology companies in Europe positions us favourably to be a value-add investor to growth companies in that sector.”
“Through this partnership, we look forward to investing in tech companies that show significant potential to scale profitably and are managed by a strong management bench as part of our efforts to expand our offerings to our global client base,” Ben-Gacem added.
Meanwhile, Zhao Wei, executive director and chief executive officer of China Everbright Limited, said that the partnership is an important step in attracting foreign investment and bringing global perspective into China’s booming technology sector.
“Standing upon the intelligent tide with the booming of intelligent infrastructures such as 5G, IoT and AI, Everbright has already proved itself to be a pioneer in the Intelligent Age.”
China is experiencing accelerated growth in the technology sector and has attracted a majority of private equity investment capital. Investcorp added that technology firms across the spectrum, from e-commerce and internet services, to smart retail and artificial intelligence to b2b software solutions will be considered as key targets for the team.