New $100 Million Fund Targets China Media Ventures

SINGAPORE: The founder of Chinese film giant Bona Film Group is among the partners in a new $100 million private-equity fund unveiled at ATF today targeting media and entertainment opportunities in China.

The fund was launched in Singapore today by Yu Dong, founder and chairman of Bona Film Group; Singaporean private-equity fund Tembusu Partners; and local entrepreneur Calvin Cheng.

The five-year, $100 million fund will be based in Singapore and aims to attract foreign investment. It will target media companies, content and technology focused on China. Initial investments will likely include Bona Film Group and Chia Tai Group in Thailand. It will also explore co-productions between China and international markets.

Yu noted, “Singapore is the perfect place to launch this fund as it is not only a financial capital of the world, but also the place where East meets West. This fund will allow foreign investors to participate in the fastest growing media and entertainment market in the world. China’s media and entertainment industry is forecast to overtake Japan’s by 2018 and become the second-largest in the world, behind only the U.S. It is already the second-largest film market in the world, and China’s TV industry is set to surpass the U.K. and Germany by 2016 to also become the second-largest behind the U.K. This phenomenal growth in China will create many exciting investment opportunities.”

Cheng added, “The existing film and TV co-production agreement between Singapore and China opens up opportunities for the fund to invest in projects that involve Singapore-based media companies. In addition, we will be looking at media companies globally that have a ‘China-story’; with the convergence of traditional media with the Internet, there will be many exciting new opportunities that will emerge from the vast Chinese landscape, and we will be looking to invest in the best of them.”