China's Private Equity Dynasty?

August 2 - The Motley Fool - According to a recent piece in BusinessWeek, private equity firms spent a total of $737.4 billion in 2006 -- more than the entire GDP of Australia! With buyout firms profiting 20% to 30% per year on average from their lucrative deals, rapid growth in the private equity market is no surprise. Now these firms are turning to global markets for additional opportunities, and their attention is increasingly fixed on China.

In the past, Chinese government regulation has prevented foreign private equity firms from buying up companies there. However, Chinese leaders recently found that the majority of the country's corporate financing still comes from bank loans, and they now apparently realize the need for a domestic private equity industry. Accordingly, the government has created new regulations to allow private equity players access to Chinese companies. Read More.