Infinity Equity, a China-focused cross-border investment management group, has raised a total of 2.6 billion yuan ($377.7 million) for three new RMB-denominated funds.
Local government-guided funds in eastern China’s Hefei City, southern China’s Guangzhou City, and the Hainan Free Trade Port committed to each of the three new vehicles, Infinity Equity announced in a recent statement.
Chinese publicly-listed companies such as eye-sight products provider Autek China, healthcare services firm Jointown Pharmaceutical Group, and Lucky Harvest, which produces precision stamping tools and metal structural parts, are also among the limited partners (LPs) of the new funds, said Infinity Equity.
Established in 1993 in Israel, Infinity Equity forayed into China in 2003. It pursues strategies spanning private equity (PE), venture capital (VC), and startup incubation with a focus on industries including healthcare, new energy, semiconductor, advanced manufacturing, and automobile.
The firm, which is backed by Tel Aviv-headquartered Infinity Group and China’s state-owned Zhuhai Huafa Group, claims to have over 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) in cumulative assets under management (AUM) across more than 40 vehicles. It operates from offices in Tel Aviv, New York, Hong Kong, and Chinese cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing.
It focuses on cross-border investments, as well as dealmaking in domestic China in local currency. The firm’s landmark exits include the 2006 sale of Sightline Technologies, an Israel-based developer of flexible endoscopes, to New York-listed medical technology firm Stryker Corporation for $140 million.
Infinity Equity also claimed an internal rate of return (IRR) of 250% when it exited from Hong Kong-listed IT services provider Digital China by selling its shares on the secondary market in 2008. Separately, it posted an IRR of 200% when it sold part of the intellectual property that it owned in chip packaging solutions provider China Wafer Level CSP to Taiwan’s Xintech for $12 million.
More recently, Infinity Equity-backed lithium battery maker Changzhou Wujin Zhongrui Electronic Technology received a green light from the regulators to go ahead with its initial public offering (IPO) on Shenzhen’s Nasdaq-style ChiNext Board in December 2022.
Earlier last year, its portfolio companies Smartgiant Technology, a developer of industrial automation testing products, and integrated circuit chips maker Triductor Technology went public on Shanghai’s STAR Market, raising approximately 1.1 billion yuan ($159.6 million) and 890 million yuan ($129.2 million), respectively.
