TR Capital opens Shanghai office – exclusive

TR Capital has expanded into mainland China and appointed a new investment professional to help develop its secondaries efforts there, Secondaries Investor has learned.

The Hong Kong-headquartered secondaries firm will begin operations from its new Shanghai office today, according to managing partner Frédéric Azemard. The office will be staffed by Leo Wang who joins TR Capital as a vice-president.

Wang’s appointment will help increase deal sourcing and enhance the firms’ monitoring capabilities and post-investment value-added initiatives, Azemard said, adding that this was also an important step toward fundraising from Chinese limited partners.

Wang previously spent almost six years at private equity firm American Securities where he worked on deal screening, due diligence and portfolio management in Shanghai, and most recently was an associate director in sales at brewing company AB InBev.

TR Capital plans to add another two staff to the new office in the next 12 months, Azemard said.

TR Capital is the latest secondaries firm to push into greater China, with NewQuest Capital Partners saying in March it was planning on opening a Beijing office.

Interest in Chinese equity is growing with over half of limited partners in Coller Capital’s Summer 2016 Global Private Equity Barometer, released on Monday, responding they have exposure to the asset class in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

TR Capital was founded in 2007 and manages three funds with capital commitments of $300 million, according to its website.

– Carmela Mendoza contributed to this report.