Secondaries Deal of the Year in Asia

1. TR Capital, Lazard, Kinzon Capital for Kinzon restructuring

2. GIC, Montana, Ping An for Ping An strip sale

3. AlpInvest, Greenhill, Future Fund for Future Fund’s portfolio sale

Innovative deals? Think no further than Kinzon Capital’s restructuring. The Beijing-headquartered growth manager used a yuan-to-dollar fund restructuring to transfer seven assets from its RMB VC Fund I into a separate vehicle in a transaction that gave Kinzon access to US dollar LP capital. The innovative transaction, advised on by Lazard and backed by Hong Kong’s TR Capital, was worth around $100 million including follow-on capital. “Overall it’s very beneficial for all parties,” said Kinzon founder Jun Wang, speaking to sister title Secondaries Investor about the deal in early 2020.

Secondaries Firm of the Year in Asia

1. NewQuest Capital Partners

2. GIC

3. TR Capital

Hong Kong-headquartered NewQuest Capital Partners climbed the shortlist to claim the top spot this year. The stalwart of Asian direct secondaries, which is investing its $1 billion NewQuest Asia Fund IV, was understood to be working on several deals towards the end of 2020, including at least one GP-led process. The firm has recently expanded its team to 44 across four regional offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Mumbai and Singapore.

Secondaries Advisor of the Year in Asia

1. Lazard

2. Campbell Lutyens

3. Eaton Partners

Speak to Asia-based secondaries market sources and they will tell you when it comes to advisors in the region, it is Lazard. The firm’s advisory unit, led by Nick Miles, had a busy year in Asia-Pacific, completing two yuan-to-dollar restructurings that used both VIE and QFLP structures. Single-asset deals, tender offers, healthcare-focused continuation funds and Indian GP-leds… it is hard to find a deal type the firm has not been involved in. This is the second win for Lazard in this category, having previously taken the gong in 2017.

Secondaries Law Firm of the Year in Asia

1. Kirkland & Ellis

2. Ropes & Gray

3. Proskauer Rose

Similar to North America and EMEA, Kirkland & Ellis has won in the Asia-Pacific category for Secondaries Law Firm of the Year every year since the category launched in 2016. Last year, the firm’s Asia-based team had another mammoth year, advising on $2.6 billion-worth of secondaries deals. Its deal sheet was a mix of LP portfolio sales and GP-led restructurings. Notable among its activity was its work with China’s IDG Capital, growth firm Kinzon Capital in a yuan-to-dollar restructuring, and Legend Capital in its recapitalisation of Fund IV.