Investment in Chinese Online Store
Lindeman Asia Investment, a South Korean private equity fund (PEF) management company, announced on September 19 that it signed an equity investment in Cogobuy.
The purpose of the agreement is to invest US$260 million in the Chinese online electronic component store together with the National Social Security Fund of China, ChinaRe, etc. The investors other than Lindeman Asia Investment are estimated to have a total share of approximately 10% in the investment. This agreement is the first tangible result Lindeman Asia Investment has achieved since it established a 300 billion-won (US$260 million) PEF targeting the Chinese market on September 6.
Established in Shenzhen, China in 2010, Cogobuy has a market cap of 17 billion Hong Kong dollars in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the company’s sales totaled 9.45 billion yuan last year with a year-on-year growth rate of 38%. Its subsidiaries include Ingdan, one of the most well-known Chinese online open markets. Lindeman Asia Investment explained that its decision to invest in Cogobuy is based on positive growth forecasts regarding various forms of online transactions in China.
The South Korean company procured dozens of billions of won for investment in Cogobuy by means of the Lindeman Asia Global Pioneer, one of its PEFs recently registered with the local financial authorities. The Lindeman Asia Global Pioneer is currently the largest PEF for investment in China in the South Korean market. Each of the National Pension Service and the Korea Development Bank has invested 100 billion won in the fund. The Korea Teachers’ Credit Union has invested 50 billion won (US$43.4 million) in it and Shenzhen City is participating in the fund, too.