CMIA unlocks opportunities in Asia's mid-sized companies

CMIA Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on investing in mid-sized companies in China and Southeast Asia, has launched its fourth China fund. With a focus on investment opportunities in the country's agriculture and food sectors, the CMIA China Fund IV LP is a private equity partnership targeting up to US$200 million in capital commitments.

Established in 2003, CMIA has a successful 10-year track record of investing across several industries in China. It has a strong competitive edge in the agriculture, agribusiness and food sectors.

The CMIA China fund is at its halfway mark in fundraising and has already made three significant investments. One is in a leading industrial agriculture business involved in the cultivation of edible mushrooms and fungi in China, with current production in excess of 50 tonnes of mushrooms a day. Another is a joint investment with the state-owned China Merchants Group in the manufacture of farm equipment such as harvesters and tractors. It also made an investment in a leading contact lenses and solutions company in China's consumer medical device industry.

In May, Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur, a leading Southeast Asia-headquartered food conglomerate and the world's largest producer of instant noodles, acquired a 29.3 per cent interest in CMIA's portfolio company, China Minzhong Food Corporation, for almost US$200 million.

Minzhong, a listed company on the mainboard of the Singapore Exchange, is an industry leader in China's agriculture and food industry with interests ranging from vegetable cultivation and processing, to packaged foods and beverages.

CMIA, together with Singapore's GIC Special Investments and private equity firm Olympus Capital were investors in Minzhong.