Asia Buyouts – The Next M&A Growth Region

A new private equity fund, Hopu Fund, is being setup and run by Richard Ong, Goldman’s co-head of investment banking in Asia ex-Japan, and Goldman’s China partner, Fang Fenglei.  Goldman Sachs is investing about $300 million of its own money into the fund and Temasek Holdings Pty. Ltd., a government fund from Singapore, is planning to invest around $1 billion into the fund.  Hopu Fund has also received interest from other investors far exceeding its planned $2 billion private equity fund.

Richard Ong, 42 and who grew up in Malaysia, left Goldman Sachs in March after 15 years of service including leading its Singapore office before moving to Beijing in October 2006.  Mr. Ong will hold an advisory role with Goldman once he leaves the firm.  Mr. Ong’s brother, Charles Ong, is senior managing director and chief strategist at Temasek.

Fang Fenglei spearheaded the initial public offerings by Chinese state-owned firms at China International Capital Corp., a joint-venture investment bank formed by China Construction Bank Corp. and Morgan Stanley in the 1990s.  He left that venture and worked for other joint-venture investment banks in China.  In late 2004, he helped Goldman Sachs set up a domestic joint-venture securities firm in China, Goldman Sachs Gaohua Securities Co. Mr. Fang remains chairman of that joint venture and retains a stake in it. He has stepped back from day-to-day work at the venture. Read More »