A year ago, China's private equity sector was enjoying a boom, with new funds arriving at a rate of almost 10 a day and investors splurging trillions of renminbi in the hope of enjoying high returns.
What a difference 12 months makes.
Beijing-based data provider Zero2IPO Research said 3,574 funds launched in a feverish 2017, raising approximately Rmb1.8 trillion $229 billion from investors. Only a handful, roughly 70 in total, were not renminbi denominated, according to one leading private equity investor.
By contrast, in the first quarter of 2018, just 805 new renminbi private equity funds were registered, with only Rmb237.6bn of capital, according...