TPG Raises $303 Million Selling Its China International Stake

(Bloomberg) -- TPG raised HK$2.38 billion ($303 million) selling a majority of its stake in China International Capital Corp., once dubbed the “Goldman Sachs of China,” after making the investment almost a decade ago, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The U.S.-based alternative asset investment firm sold about 128 million CICC shares at HK$18.58 apiece, representing 75 percent of its holding in the Beijing-based securities firm, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. TPG sold more than it planned due to strong demand from investors, the person said. The sale price represented a 2 percent discount to CICC’s Monday close at HK$18.96.

The stake sale represents a return of about 1.4-times the investment TPG made in 2010 and enables the firm to return a total of $4.4 billion cash to investors of its Asia V fund, up from $4.1 billion paid out earlier, the person said. TPG had written down its stake to 60 cents on the dollar in 2012 after a slump in Chinese bond and stock underwriting, people familiar with the matter said at the time.

Representatives for CICC and TPG, which is based in San Francisco and Fort Worth, Texas, weren’t immediately available for comment.

CICC reported a 26 percent increase in net profit last year, according to a stock exchange filing last week.

TPG raised more than $4.6 billion for its Asia private equity fund in February, almost 40 percent larger its previous pool of capital and its biggest in the world’s fastest-growing region.

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