In-Depth: Why Are Private Equity Managers Starting to Play Hardball?(AI Translation)
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- China's private equity investment circle is experiencing a shift from boasting about fundraising sizes and investment performances to sharing experiences on navigating the changing economic environment and discussing merger and acquisition opportunities amid global economic pressures.
- The focus of investments is moving towards manufacturing industries like semiconductors and new energy sectors, with an emphasis on 'going global' strategies for Chinese companies. Meanwhile, areas such as AI development and consumer markets are undergoing adjustments, reflecting broader changes in investment trends and priorities.
文｜财新周刊 屈运栩
By Caixin Weekly's Qu Yunxu
岁末年初，数场中国私募股权投资圈的活动上，三年未线下聚首的VC（风险投资）和PE（私募股权投资）管理人们聊起“募投管退”，情绪不复过往：过去常是攀比募资规模、投资业绩，抱怨资产太贵；现在更多是分析国内外经济环境，分享募资经验，讨论并购机会。
At the turn of the year, at several events in China's private equity investment circle, venture capitalists (VC) and private equity (PE) managers, who hadn't met offline for three years, discussed "fundraising, investing, managing, and exiting." Their mood was no longer as it used to be: previously, conversations often revolved around comparing fundraising scales and investment performance, complaining about expensive assets; now, they are more focused on analyzing domestic and international economic environments, sharing fundraising experiences, and discussing merger and acquisition opportunities.
私募市场的温感反应，或略早于宏观经济数据。“2023年春节后，大家开始疯狂出差，觉得应该迎来一个反弹和爆发。”华兴资本董事总经理王力行对财新回顾称。他预想的爆发并没有到来。“4月成交意愿变差，5、6月连续两个月宏观数据承压，验证了4月市场的谨慎，此后数月市场慢慢降温。”
The private equity market's temperature response might slightly precede macroeconomic data. "After the Spring Festival in 2023, everyone started to travel frantically for business, feeling that a rebound and explosion should be coming," Wang Lixing, Managing Director at China Renaissance, reflected to Caixin. The explosion he anticipated did not materialize. "In April, the willingness to make deals deteriorated, and in May and June, macroeconomic data was under pressure for two consecutive months, confirming the market's caution in April. In the following months, the market gradually cooled down."
投融资服务机构华兴资本曾参与诸多新经济风口企业的交易。在2023年初那拨Chat-GPT（聊天机器人）带来的生成式人工智能（AIGC）热潮中，华兴就接到百川智能创始人王小川的AI（人工智能）大模型创业项目融资需求，为其担任财务顾问。王力行从4月中下旬开始操盘该项目，赶在5月之前完成一轮融资，到三季度借势再融一轮——而这几乎成了国内此轮AI大模型融资的绝响：“到了四季度，大厂全面布局AI大模型，头部创业公司格局迅速固化，资本开始观望应用领域何时出现真正的Killer App（杀手级应用）。”
China Renaissance, a financial services firm, has been involved in transactions for numerous new economy enterprises. Amid the surge of generative artificial intelligence (AIGC) sparked by Chat-GPT at the beginning of 2023, China Renaissance received a financing request from Baichuan Intelligence's founder Wang Xiaochuan for his AI large model startup project and served as its financial advisor. Wang Lixing began managing the project from mid to late April, completing a round of financing before May and leveraging this momentum for another round in the third quarter—this nearly became the swan song for domestic AI large model financing in this cycle: "By the fourth quarter, major companies had fully deployed AI large models, and the landscape of leading startups quickly solidified. Capital began to wait and see when a true Killer App would emerge in the application field."
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