Native name | 方源资本 |
---|---|
Company type | Private |
Industry | Investment Management |
Founded | December 2007 |
Founders |
|
Headquarters | Two IFC, Central, Hong Kong |
Key people | Frank Tang (Chairman and CEO) |
Products |
Private equity Growth equity Venture capital |
AUM | US$11 billion (2022) [1] |
Website |
fountainvest |
Footnotes / references [2] |
FountainVest Partners (FountainVest; Chinese: 方源资本; pinyin: Fāngyuán Zīběn) is a Chinese investment firm based in Hong Kong that invests in the private markets. The firm focuses on China's media and entertainment, sports and consumer-related sectors although it has expanded into other areas in recent years. [3] [4] [5]
Headquartered in Hong Kong, the firm has additional offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Shanghai and Singapore.
In December 2007, Frank Tang and several other senior executives at Temasek Holdings founded FountainVest. [4] Major investors of the firm at the time were Temasek Holdings, CPP Investment Board and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. [5] The firm raised almost $1 billion for its first China-focused private equity fund [5] despite the timing of the 2007–2008 financial crisis. [6] For many investors, FountainVest was the first China private equity fund they committed money to. [3] [4] [7] [8] [9] [10] By 2022, the company closed its fourth fund, that one being of $2.9 Billion. [11]
FountainVest's investment strategy is based around three core themes: the rising middle class, urbanisation and sustainable development. The typical deal size is $50 million - $150 million enterprise value on entry as it has already passed the early stage company risk while still having potential to become a billion dollar company. [4] [5] [8] [12]
In November 2009, FountainVest, Sequoia Capital and CITIC Capital acquired a stake worth $180 million in Sina Corporation [13] which runs Weibo, China's most popular microblogger. [10] The purpose was to strengthen Sina management's hold on the company and allow it to finance future acquisitions. [4] [10] [13]
In 2012, an investor consortium including FountainVest and The Carlyle Group took Focus Media private via a $3.7 billion leveraged buyout deal. [3] At the time it was the largest leveraged buyout deal in China. [8] [14] [15] In 2015, FountainVest held a stake of just below the 20 per cent of Focus Media and CITIC about 17.5 percent. [16] Focus Media and FountainVest partners eventually set up the joint venture Focus Media FountainVest Sports worth $400 Million aimed to invest in sports. [16] The consortium later relisted Focus Media on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange via a reverse merger in 2015 in a deal worth $7.4 billion. Finally in July 2018, the consortium exited Focus Media after they sold their stake in Focus Media to the Alibaba Group for $1.2 billion. [17] [18]
In January 2014, Fountainvest joined an investor consortium to privatize Nasdaq-listed company, Shanda Games for $1.9 billion. However, in September 2014, it pulled out of the deal. [19] [20]
In August 2014, Fountainvest and CPP Investment Board acquired Key Safety Systems for $800 million. [21] [22] In February 2016, Fountainvest and its partners sold Key Safety Systems to Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corporation for $920 million. [23]
In June 2016, Endeavor formed a joint venture in China with FountainVest, Sequoia Capital and Tencent. In April 2022 Endeavor acquired the remaining stake of the joint venture for $158 million. [24] [25]
By September 2017, FountainVest acquired the German Bosch Mahle Turbo Systems (BMTS), a joint venture of Bosch and Mahle founded in 2008 that produces turbochargers. [26] The company had 1300 employees at the time. [26] [27] In April 2021, FountainVest led a consortium, which invested $220 million in the self driving truck company Plus AI. [28]
In 2018, the company teamed up with CITIC and acquired a stake of 50 per cent of Loscam, an Australian pallet producer from China Merchants. [29]
In December 2018 an investor consortium led by Anta Sports that included FountainVest and Tencent acquired Amer Sports for $5.2 billion. [3] [30] In Amer sports are included the ski brands Atomic, Salomon and the tennis racket producer Wilson. [31]
In November 2021 FountainVest struck a deal to acquire the Chinese franchises of Papa John's and Dairy Queen for $160 million. [32] An expansion from currently around 160 to 1,350 restaurants by 2040 in Southern China was agreed upon. [33] For the Chinese branch of Dairy Queen an expansion from 900 to 1500 until 2040 was planned. [34]