Asia Private Equity Weekly News, Jan. 15, 2014

HONG KONG, January 15 (Reuters) - News and developments in Asia private equity from Reuters News for the week ending Jan. 10.

JAN. 10

PRIVATE EQUITY firm CVC Capital has agreed to invest over $200 million into China education company EIC Group, buying shares from its founder and rival private equity firm Actis Capital, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

CHINA INVESTMENT Corp, through subsidiary Chengdong Investment Corp, sold part of its stake in GCL-Poly Energy to raise HK$3.12 billion ($402 million), IFR reported.

JAN. 9

APOLLO GLOBAL Management LLC said it had completed fundraising for its latest flagship global private equity fund, amassing $17.5 billion from investors, the most any such fund has raised since the financial crisis.

KKR (Frankfurt: A1C10P - news) & CO LP said it had closed the $2 billion KKR Special Situations Fund L.P., a global fund focused mainly on distressed and event-driven investments.

JAN. 8

TAIWAN'S EASTERN Media International Corp is bidding for Carlyle Group's entire 61 percent stake in local TV company Eastern Broadcasting, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, at a valuation substantially below Carlyle's expectations.

FACEBOOK INC (NasdaqGS: FB - news) is buying India-based Little Eye Labs, a startup that builds performance analysis and monitoring tools for mobile Android apps, to help boost its technology as it focuses on growing revenue from its mobile business.

INDIAREIT Advisors, the real estate private equity arm of India's Piramal Enterprises, has raised 10 billion rupees ($160.5 million) from investors within the country, the company said.

SINGAPORE'S OCBC Bank said it has launched a $100 million private equity fund, OCBC Capital (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund, L.P., under the Shanghai Qualified Foreign Limited Partner Pilot Programme. The fund will invest in growth stage private companies which will eventually list on China's A-shares market. ()

U.S. MICRODISPLAY company Syndiant said it has agreed to form a joint venture with Tongtai Jiuyou, based in Zhangjiakou, China.

JAN. 7

BLACKSTONE GROUP LP has appointed one of its senior advisers to head its Australia business, a spokeswoman said, in a sign the firm plans to ramp up its investing efforts inside the country.

EUROPE'S BIGGEST dairy group Lactalis has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in India's Tirumala Milk Products, whose shareholders include Carlyle, for between $250 million and $300 million, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

JAN. 3

CARLYLE IS preparing to launch its first two publicly listed mutual funds, according to a regulatory filing by the latest alternative asset manager seeking to offer its investment platform to retail investors in this way.

JAN. 2

JAPAN LED Asian stock markets in 2013 on price performance in dollar terms, while Indonesia was the worst performer. The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand also posted negative returns in dollar terms last year:

Asian markets performance: ()

Asian markets valuations: ()

DEC. 24

JAPAN'S GOVERNMENT Pension Investment Fund, the world's largest pension fund, said Boston-based Wellington Management Company is the ninth manager of its $161 billion foreign stock portfolio.

SINGAPORE'S SOVEREIGN wealth fund GIC was named as British Land (LSE: BLND.L - news) 's new partner in London's Broadgate office and retail complex, buying out U.S. private equity group Blackstone (NYSE: BX - news) for around 1.7 billion pounds ($2.8 billion).

DEC. 23

QATAR INVESTMENT Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of the gas-rich Gulf emirate, is in talks to invest $200 million in residential property in India, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.