There's more good news on the China investment front. According to the 2006 Annual Study Report on Private Equity Investment in China issued by Zero2IPO in Shanghai in December 2006, China has become one of Asia's most active private equity investment markets.
The data from this report was obtained from a Zero2IPO research center investigation of private equity funds with active investments on the Chinese mainland. The results of the investigation showed that from January to November 2006, 35 private equity funds that invest solely in the Asian market (including the Chinese mainland) successfully raised capital of $12.161 billion. Private equity funds on the Chinese mainland invested in a total of 111 cases during the same period, with 68 private equity funds involved in total investments of $11.773 billion. These figures made China the second most attractive private equity fund investment market in Asia, right behind Japan. According to an estimate by the Zero2IPO research center, the total amount of private equity investments in China in 2006 would account for more than 1 percent of the country's GDP.
The second half of 2006 saw even faster growth in the amount of capital raised by private equity funds. According to Zero2IPO statistics, from July through November, they raised $7.53 billion, a 62.6 percent increase compared to the first half of 2006.
