Carlyle sues leading Chinese venture capitalist

Carlyle Group, the US private equity firm, is suing prominent Chinese venture capitalist Neil Shen on the grounds that he unlawfully prevented it from buying into a Chinese medical research company, the Wall Street Journal reported. A Carlyle-managed Asia fund is seeking damages of US$206 million. The fund claims that Shen thwarted its investment by backdating an US$11 million investment contract between the fund he runs, Sequoia Capital China Growth Fund, and the founder of Green Villa Holdings, Ren Jun. The contract – for a 25% stake in Green Villa – was signed four days before Carlyle formally agreed to invest US$10 million in the company, according to a writ submitted to Hong Kong’s High Court. Carlyle claims that Ren is a former classmate of Shen. Shen is best known as the founder of NASDAQ-listed online travel company Ctrip.