Idinvest opens Shanghai office

This is the French fund of funds manager's first Asian office and is the second office opening it has announced in February.

Idinvest Partners, a French fund of funds manager that invests in secondaries, opened its first Asia office in Shanghai this week as a base for its portfolio companies to expand into the region.

Solomon Moos, who has been with the firm since July 2016 and who handles corporate development in Asia, will lead the office, according to a statement. He will be supported by three Chinese partners.

Through its Shanghai office, the mid-market firm will offer in-country support to its portfolio companies by helping entrepreneurs find the right partners and build stronger ties with financial backers across Asia. This is also in line with Idinvest’s Franco-Chinese investment platform, CHANCE, which it set up in 2015 to give Chinese investors access to European small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

“While the US used to be the pivotal go-to country for innovative SMEs, more and more companies are now looking eastward for development and China, as the second largest economy in the world, plays a central part,” Christophe Baviere, chief executive of Idinvest, said in a statement.

“We see the Asian region as a hub for development, where some of our existing portfolio companies already have a footprint including Organica, Actility, Forsee, Sigfox and Vulcain. This latest development is part of our commitment to internationalise and facilitate the growth of our portfolio companies into global SMEs,” he said.

Idinvest is seeking €500 million for its latest secondaries vehicle, Idinvest Secondary Fund III, for which it had raised €350 million as of September.

In early February the Paris-headquartered firm also expanded its German operations with an office in Frankfurt.

Idinvest has over €7 billion under management across private equity and private debt funds.