Singapore is in a sense a “springboard”.
（https://twitter.com/uniswap12 ）
Text by Liu Yanqiu
Source丨China Investment Network
The return ticket that originally cost more than 10,000 yuan has now gone for 100,000 yuan.
After spending 3,000 or 4,000 RMB, I could only book a big-bed room in a hotel near the venue. As for the negotiation area of the venue, it was already full, and the surrounding facilities were insufficient. Lisa could only ask a local friend to go to the shopping mall to explore the store and discuss whether to book a private room for the restaurant, as a place for the boss to meet people and talk about business in a few weeks. land.
“The conditions are tough, but at least it’s decent,” Lisa spat at me.
After Lisa invested in a dollar fund, the trouble started when her boss planned to attend SuperReturn in Singapore in mid-September. The summit covers major global financial centers in North America, Europe, and Asia. Every early autumn, LPs with huge assets, those in charge of pensions, parent funds, school board funds, and GPs of front-line institutions will be summoned together. Where does its appeal come from? An example is that it established a 1:1 rule for the number of GPs and LPs present.
To put it bluntly, Lisa’s boss has gone to great lengths, even if it is not for the current fundraising, but also for fundraising related matters. However, before this year, they were more likely to attend conferences in other regions. It was the first time to attend SuperReturn in Singapore, but it was just in time for such a tight market.
On the same day, I heard that PR Helen of another US dollar fund was also keeping a close eye on Singapore. In mid-November, AVCJ will hold a conference at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore. In previous years, the event was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong. Seeing that there are still more than two months before the meeting, she thought she had plenty of time and planned to seek an opportunity to sponsor a certain panel, but the answer she received was that all the forums related to LP and GP were full. Do you want a marginal forum? get involved?
The difficulty of booking tickets and the enthusiasm for attending the conference have become the secret talk of the US dollar GP in recent times. But why are so many people flocking to Singapore all of a sudden? Take a look at the hotel’s orders and the invoicing of the summit. Whether from the perspective of travel or the market, are they approaching the upper limit of the carrying capacity here?
Feast of VC/PE
There was more than one meeting. Roger, an investor from a large fund, partially answered my questions. He recently booked a trip to Singapore and plans to stay a while longer to make full use of his resources during this month’s “meeting season”.
In Singapore in September, as far as he knows, five major business-related conferences will be held. In addition to SuperReturn in the fundraising direction, the Asian PEVC Summit hosted by Mercer Global Investment Forums, Tech in Asia Conference, and DealstreetAsia will also be held in September, and there are more Asian summits hosted by the Milken Institute with international influence in the macro direction. The dimensions meet the needs of different types of asset holders and managers. At the end of this month, China Investment Information will also hold a larger-scale investment summit in Singapore. If you count the F1 Singapore Grand Prix held in mid-to-late September every year, the crowd density will inevitably increase further.
In Roger’s view, Singapore is a “springboard” in a sense, and it is difficult for a considerable number of local industries to develop to a large scale in depth, but it can be used as a hub to radiate Southeast Asia. As a financial center, some companies and institutions have also established offices in Singapore. “Building an office in Singapore is not impossible in terms of financial scenarios. But when it comes to the trend of other industries, I will put a question mark. It is like playing chess. I will put a piece there first, but when will I use it? Yes Can’t play a big role? It depends on the relationship between the situation and the situation, and whether the resources that can be mobilized now support this strategy. As a result, it may be in the middle or later.”
In any case, the streets of Singapore are already crowded. Fundraising difficulties have driven the partners of the dollar fund to scramble to set foot in Singapore. 2022 is already halfway through, and the time is pressing. Whether they participate in the conference or not, going to Singapore means that they have grabbed tickets to see LPs intensively.
This entry ticket is not cheap.
Even invited guests have to buy tickets. SuperReturn early bird tickets cost 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per ticket. The price is still floating and adjusted every week. If you cancel voluntarily, no refund will be given. Sponsor is more expensive — $5.5w per link, and the cheapest one costs $3w. In this way, it is just a chance to get a separate speech, or to be able to become 1/n in a panel.
In addition to the machine wine, one trip will cost at least 200,000 to 300,000 yuan. Naturally, I feel the cost is high.
But Lisa said the money was worth it. “What’s that for management fees?”
In November, the AVCJ Forum also landed in Singapore. On September 2, its official account released a notice of the meeting: “More than 1,600 senior investors will participate in the 35th AVCJ Private Equity and Venture Capital Forum, including more than 800 LP representatives. Here, you will hear 160 The voices of more than 100 global industry leaders, including Junqi Investment, BCI, BlackRock, The Carlyle Group, Dietrich Foundation, TPG, etc.”
The organizer is very aware of the mentality of the participants. The number of LP representatives is the key data that was specially emphasized.
“Many retired corporate bosses immigrated to the past, and now there are too many rich people in Singapore,” Helen lamented. My colleague Zhang Nan analyzed in “Why Singapore Is Suddenly Popular”, investment by the wealthy, industrial transfer and middle-class immigration are three manifestations of “Singapore fever”. Even many US dollar VCs have started to recruit people in Singapore. Recently it was reported that Jinshajiang and Jingwei are recruiting new staff in Singapore to make it easier to find potential deals in Southeast Asia.
Where the money is, there is the feast of capital. BAI, Pace, Mingshi, Huaping, Zhongding, Hillhouse, Xinchen, CITIC, GGV and Lanchi… I understand that many domestic VCs and PEs will appear there.
The USD IR team of a well-known PE has already gone to Singapore to prepare for the fundraising. They want to invite LPs over to host a small tea party or dinner party to entertain guests — this is what Lisa heard.
A front-line FA has previously opened an office in Singapore, while another rival investment bank also came to Singapore this month and organized a series of events.
“Local” is very important, “Now there are many projects in Southeast Asia in various institutions, and the local project parties actually need FA. You can’t read the Chinese they have turned over by themselves, and everyone communicates by email to give feedback. Very slow.”
LP is of course the highlight. Lisa got the invite list for this year’s AVCJ Singapore in advance. She glanced at it and found a three-page list of LPs full of LPs we’ve heard of and LPs we haven’t heard of.
“Some dark horse LPs are on it, and there are also some names. You can’t guess which rich man’s family office is by just looking at the name. For example, the surname ‘chou’ is simply written on the list, but you don’t know what’s behind it. Who is the rich man?”
For GPs looking for incremental LPs in the US dollar market, this list is “incremental”.
Seeing LP is serious business
Fundraising is difficult, which is the background for US dollar funds to get together in Singapore.
In 2022, industry-based fundraising difficulties have already surfaced. When the share of the original US dollar LPs invested in Chinese VCs decreases, the limited money can only be invested in GPs that have been in contact with before, or those in the usual sense of white horse funds. For example, Sequoia China’s new fund of $9 billion, which broke the record for the amount raised, is the embodiment of this Matthew effect.
“There are no more than 15 tier-one institutions that are still in progress this year, including those that have completed dollar fundraising,” Helen estimates. In her impression, the institutions that have gone to AVCJ in recent years have a clear appeal for fundraising — to make an appearance at the meeting and let everyone know that I am here. “If you see some institutions that haven’t been there in previous years, but suddenly went this year, it means that they are about to start fundraising.”
Another problem arises now that an institution is raising dollars and renminbi at the same time. Information barriers between RMB project information and US dollar project information, that is, in the face of different LPs, stricter information management is required.
When LPs in the United States become more difficult to leverage, the partners of the US dollar fund are also looking forward to opening up new markets for fundraising in Singapore. The increment may come from the Middle East, Europe, Australia, or Southeast Asia.
“This trip may not be able to meet key people, but at least you can meet a lot of LPs that you don’t have the chance to meet normally, and walk all the roads that IR can go. Let’s discuss whether to open the data entry for this LP.” Lisa told me.
The maintenance of the relationship with the old LP is also the purpose of this trip for many institutions. Many LP counterparts in the Asia-Pacific region used to be based in other regions, but now, many people have moved to Singapore.
LPs also have demands to communicate with GPs. Recently, many LPs are holding AGM meetings to report the current status of the project and the return on exit. “Don’t contact these GPs now, don’t ask them about the investment direction of subsequent fundraising, how to use the data as a reference for re-funding in the future? How to report to the pension fund in the United States?” Lisa said.
Another news I heard recently is that a US dollar fund is discussing exit with LP. Since the fund has expired, but the stock of the previous super deal is still in hand, they are trying to transfer the shares directly to the LP. This time Meetings are also time for communication.
A US dollar fund partner who announced that he had just raised a sum will also be in Singapore. Under the situation of difficult fundraising, powerful GPs can still raise money, but the front line will be longer, and it will not be completed within a certain rhythm like before. Many funds have no fixed time for progress after the first stage. . It appears that the partner in the dollar fund wants to take some more money in Singapore.
U.S. dollar fundraising is quiet, but no one dares to take it lightly.
“After Sequoia officials announced the fundraising news, Qiming, Lightspeed, Cathay… also announced their own fundraising amount soon. If you don’t announce it at this time, the outside world will think you haven’t raised any money.” Helen I think this is like the “law of the dark forest” mentioned in “Three-Body Problem”. Don’t expose it to anyone, but as long as one is exposed, someone at the same level as you must do something.
At this juncture, no one wants to miss the opportunity to see LP.
(Lisa, Helen, Roger are all pseudonyms)
