Wave of Hong Kong openings by Western investment firms continues with Adams Street

Chicago-based Adams Street Partners launched its Hong Kong bureau connected Monday, joining a question of Western concern firms mounting up to instrumentality vantage of the city's presumption arsenic a gateway to planetary superior and cross-border woody making.

"There's an expanding fig of backstage equity firms, maturation equity [and] task capital, that person a crushed to beryllium present successful Hong Kong - benignant of a Hong Kong nexus," said Jeffrey Diehl, the firm's managing spouse and caput of investments, successful an interview.

With much companies establishing a beingness successful Hong Kong, either by mounting up operations oregon preparing to database connected the city's banal exchange, opening an bureau successful the metropolis made sense, helium added. "We privation to beryllium person to some our investors and the concern opportunities that are presenting themselves here," helium said.

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The office, to beryllium staffed by 3 concern professionals, joins a worldwide web of 15, including Asia-Pacific locations successful Beijing, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Globally, the steadfast manages US$65 cardinal successful assets.

Adams Street's opening successful the metropolis follows a trio of akin moves by Western fiscal firms. Paris-based backstage equity steadfast Ardian opened its Hong Kong bureau past month. In June, US quant trading steadfast Jane Street Asia announced an enlargement that progressive 1 of the largest leasing transactions successful the city's main concern territory successful decades. Swiss backstage equity elephantine Partners Group opened a Hong Kong bureau successful June 2024 to grow its backstage wealthiness business.

Hong Kong has rebounded from its quiescent days during the Covid-19 pandemic, with superior marketplace financing proceeds rising 2.6 times twelvemonth connected twelvemonth arsenic of precocious October, according to JPMorgan. Equity superior raised successful Hong Kong reached HK$422 cardinal (US$54 billion), representing the highest level since 2021.

Assets nether absorption successful Hong Kong besides climbed to HK$35.14 trillion successful 2024, conscionable shy of the all-time precocious of HK$35.55 trillion recorded successful 2021. The rebound was supported by a surge successful nett money inflows, which roseate 81 per cent from a twelvemonth earlier to HK$705 billion.

"More and much private-equity wide partners are having yearly meetings and bringing their capitalist basal here," said Diehl. His firm, which is focused connected backstage markets, invests successful private-equity funds and straight into companies. It deployed US$7.5 cardinal of its assets nether absorption successful Asia, astir fractional of which was invested successful mainland China, according to Diehl.