China Development Bank (CDB) applied to Beijing regulators to join a sovereign wealth fund consortium seeking to take a minority stake in the US private equity firm TPG, the Financial Times reported. CDB would join the Government of Singapore Investment Group and the Kuwait Investment Authority in the purchase. TPG, a US private equity group, has about US$50 billion under management, and is considered one of the earliest and most active investors in China. Approval for the investment is not guaranteed – China’s Banking and Regulatory Commission rejected a bid by the CDB to bail out Citigroup (C.NYSE, 8710.TYO) three years ago. But the State Administration for Foreign Exchange (SAFE) may now exert more pressure on regulators to allow Chinese investors like CDB to drain renminbi from the economy. The bid also highlights the growing craze for private equity sweeping China.
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