China continues to be the most popular investment destination in the Asia-Pacific, attracting nearly one third of private equity investment into the region, according to Thomson Financial.

During the first half of 2004, private equity investors poured a total of US$404.3m into China - almost double that invested in Australia, which received the third largest swag of investments by volume. Hong Kong collected the second largest, with investments totaling US$252m.
 
The biggest investment during the period was JP Morgan Partners' US$167m acquisition of Sanda Kan Industrial, a Hong Kong company that owns a manufacturer of hobby products, including model trains. Clifford Chance acted for JP Morgan Partners on this deal.

Second biggest was Golden Sachs' US$121m financing of South Korean cable TV operator, C&M Communications. Key Principal Partners' US$100m acquisition of China's ASIMCO Technologies came in third. The Ohio-based equity fund acquired the Chinese components manufacturing company through a Cayman Islands parent company. A team from Linklaters' Hong Kong office, led by partner Zili Shao, advised KPP.

The sources of the contributions are predominantly from outside of the region. Of the total value of US$1.4bn in private equity investments into the Asia-Pacific, 69% or US$987m came from the Americas.

Private equity into Asia-Pacific region (ex-Japan) for first half of 2004