In this week’s edition, we examine how much a revival of a Gong Cha sale could indicate that Greater China’s consumer brands offer a compelling investment thesis for private equity players. Separately, in India, Jio Platforms’ shifting IPO plans signal rising pressure on liquidity and exits in private markets.
The $2-billion boba bet
The Greater China market is brewing a mega buyout deal that could see Taiwan-originated bubble tea chain Gong Cha fetch a valuation of up to $2 billion, if the sellers have their way.
Reuters reported, citing sources, that the Boston-based seller TA Associates has hired JP Morgan to run the sales and is expecting binding bids by mid-June.
Gong Cha generates over $70 million in annual EBITDA. A $2-billion price tag implies a multiple of nearly 30x core earnings. For a tea shop business – operating on retail leases, part-time labour, and franchise-driven expansion – this is staggering even by peak PE standards.
Gong Cha’s revenue rose 14% to $217 million in 2025, driven by growth in Japan and South Korea. Last year, it expanded to Thailand, Colombia, and Ecuador, and completed acquisitions of master franchisees on the east and west coasts of the US.
Can the next owner grow the business into that valuation? Indeed, TA Associates had reportedly already floated a sale of the business over four years ago, at a valuation of just $600 million then.
The buyers today, which reportedly include Bain Capital and General Atlantic, are “inclined to offer a lower multiple” than asking, reports say.
In another example, China’s largest ice cream and tea chain Mixue saw its shares jump over 40% in its Hong Kong market debut in March 2025. Its oversubscribed IPO, at HK$3.45-billion ($440.5 million), was backed by cornerstone investors such as M&G Investments and HongShan Growth.
With some 60,000 stores worldwide as of April, Mixue has grown into the world’s largest beverage chain by store count, overtaking McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Subway.
Could this be an indication of how global capital might be seeking uncorrelated trades to shelter from geopolitical headwinds? If so, it is an opportune time for TA Associates to exit.
PE may be treating Asian consumer brands that have gone global as a top-tier opportunity set, with apparent immunity to geopolitical risks, and a cash-driven business model.
But it remains to be seen if this is a repeatable thesis.
Heytea, once the premium darling, is bleeding. Valued at ~$9.3 billion at its peak in July 2021, Heytea reportedly shut down over 600 stores between Oct 2024 and Oct 2025.
As China’s domestic bubble tea market experiences a brutal price war, consumer experts said Heytea slashed prices to battle low-cost rivals like Mixue, diluting its brand.
To Gong Cha’s advantage, it was never as dependent on the competitive Chinese market. Its growth is coming from Japan, South Korea, the US, and new market forays, which could bode well for its future valuations and exit.
At our upcoming inaugural Asia PE Leadership Summit in Hong Kong on May 20, we will debate the barbell approach to Greater China-rooted assets:
- The high-risk bucket: AI, semiconductors, data privacy. These get the headlines, but alongside tremendous geopolitical risks.
- The safe-bet bucket: Consumer globalisation. The place to park cash for risk-adjusted returns.
Is Jio’s IPO reset a warning sign for private market exits?
When Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani sold stakes in Jio Platforms in 2020, global investors rushed in as though they were buying into India’s digital future itself.
Meta, Google, Silver Lake, KKR and others together invested more than $20 billion at valuations that, at the time, looked extraordinary.
The assumption was that Reliance would eventually list Jio Platforms, India’s digital consumption story would deepen, and investors would exit with meaningful gains.
The market debut remains elusive. The company is said to be revisiting its listing structure, and may even drop earlier plans that would have allowed partial exits for existing backers.
Media reports suggest Reliance is reworking Jio Platforms’ proposed IPO from an offer for sale (OFS) to a fully fresh issue, amid differences with investors over pricing and valuation expectations.
If one of India’s largest and most institutionally backed digital companies is rethinking the IPO exit route for investors, smaller players could easily get caught in a broader liquidity squeeze.
Data from Venture Intelligence already signals the exit slowdown. So far this year, PE and VC firms have realised exits worth $3.54 billion, down sharply from $6.25 billion in the January-May period of 2025. In the same period in 2024, exits stood at $8.58 billion.
The decline is reflected in volume terms too. Investors scored 69 exits this year, compared with 87 in the same period last year and 129 in 2024.
“With macro headwinds still in play, the next few months could get tougher as sentiment remains fragile and investors remain cautious,” said Girish Vanvari, founder at Transaction Square, a tax, regulatory and business advisory firm headquartered in Mumbai.
“That said, active primary markets are a good sign, as they show companies are still confident enough to raise capital and expand even in a volatile environment.”
Others are also reassessing listing plans. Walmart-backed fintech firm PhonePe temporarily paused its IPO plans in March amid cautious investor sentiment. Separately, XED Executive Development, which was set to become the first company from GIFT City’s IFSC to tap public markets, also withdrew its listing plans earlier this year.
Wars in Europe and West Asia, uncertainty around US interest rates, and concerns about global fragmentation have made investors more cautious about risk assets. IPO markets – not just in India but globally – have been uneven, and large exits at peak valuations are getting harder to pull off.
In India, sharp swings in benchmark indices in recent months indicate investor anxiety around global events and policy signals.
“The market has been extremely volatile in recent months. Companies which have obtained SEBI approvals are adopting a wait-and-watch approach to timing their issue,” said Pranav Haldea, Managing Director of PRIME Database Group.
“The primary market always follows the secondary market. Some stability needs to return to the secondary market before we see any meaningful IPO activity,” he added.
In a telling sign of the current mood, PE and VC firms pulled out the highest amount of cash from India’s IPO market in four years in 2025, even as their participation in new listings fell to the lowest level in at least a decade.
Investors sold shares worth Rs 20,643 crore through IPOs, but backed fewer than one in five listings, compared with around one in four in 2024 and one in three in 2023, stated a Mint report.
This means investors are still willing to exit when valuations are attractive, but far more selective when it comes to fresh bets.
The private capital ecosystem is adjusting to a new reality. While capital is still available for strong companies, liquidity is no longer a given. And, investors are discovering that exits are becoming harder to execute and even harder to time.
Top PE developments
Fundraising
Qatar Investment Authority committed $500 million to General Atlantic’s global growth equity strategies, expanding its existing partnership with the firm.
Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company made the final close of its maiden private credit alternative investment fund at nearly $209 million.
The Macau government has launched the Macau Investment Management Company Limited as the entity to manage the special administrative region’s government guidance fund, which was unveiled in late Feb with an initial $1.4 billion from its financial reserves.
Deals
EQT announced its plans to launch a tender offer to take Kakaku.com private at a valuation of $3.76 billion.
Pacific Universal Investments acquired a 51% controlling stake in Indonesia’s PT Mitra Adiperkasa for $680 million, paving the way for CVC Capital Partners to take a significant minority stake in the retailer.
Interviews not to miss
Vietnamese mid-market PE firm Mekong Capital partner Chad Ovel said the current investment cycle resembles the post-Global Financial Crisis period, though with important differences.
Jeffrey Diehl, managing partner and head of investments at Adams Street Partners, said the ecosystem of AI in Asia is still concentrated in China and India, with emerging markets in Southeast Asia yet to produce a mass of AI-centric opportunities.
