Michelle Phillips

Merrit Maddux, head of Asia at private equity real estate firm Forum Partners, has left after six years to start his own firm Rail Canyon Capital. He has been replaced by ex-Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Paul Hastings executive Gregory Wells.

China-focused private equity firm Hony Capital has made its first investment into China’s real estate sector with an RMB 1.8 billion investment into Shanghai-listed real estate and construction company Chengtou Holdings.

LPs still hold the upper hand before a capital commitment is made to a fund, but afterward the LP-GP relationship becomes much more symbiotic, delegates heard at the PERE Summit: Asia in Hong Kong.

Even with $3 trillion in reserves, China’s institutional investors are ‘conservative’ when it comes to investing in private equity real estate, and it could take several years for China’s LPs to get comfortable with real estate investing, delegates heard at the PERE Asia Summit.

In response to a scandal, PRC regulators have halted the sale of private equity products through brokerages and banks, which is expected to significantly impact domestic fundraising.