Bain Capital won three prizes while India’s Kedaara Capital and ChrysCapital Partners claimed two apiece at the 2024 AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Capital Awards.

Bain triumphed in the large-cap categories for firm of the year and fundraise of the year, with Kedaara taking the same honours in the mid-cap space. Bain also won mid-cap exit of the year for Japan Wind Energy. ChrysCapital was the first-ever recipient of the secondary deal of the year award and shared large-cap deal honours with EQT for India’s HDFC Credila.

A total of 17 prizes were presented for fundraising, investments, exits, responsible investment, and value creation. 5Y Capital, J-Star, Potentia Capital, KKR, Trustar Capital, Carlyle, Allegro Funds, Mandala Capital, Affinity Equity Partners, and Qiming Venture Partners were among the other winners. Chin Chou, formerly CEO of Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia (MSPEA), won the AVCJ Special Achievement Award.

The region’s PE and VC community has a 50% say in the result by way of a public vote with a panel of industry judges accounting for the other 50%. The Operational Value Add Award and the Responsible Investment Award were presented based on recommendations from separate expert judging panels, while the AVCJ Special Achievement Award was presented at the discretion of the AVCJ Editorial Board.

Bain’s 12 months have been characterised by a continued flow of exits out of Japan, notably through trade sales from nursing care service provider Nichii Gakkan and Japan Wind. The latter represented the culmination of a nine-year journey that started with a take-private and included a repositioning from a renewable energy owner to an asset-light developer, and a transfer between two Bain-managed funds.

The firm also closed its fifth pan-Asian fund on USD 7.1bn, exceeding the USD 5bn target. “We think about change in Asia. Everything is changing, even if the geographic mix hasn’t changed that much. What’s been nice is getting support from investors who have stuck with us over time,” said Jim Hildebrandt, a partner at Bain, on collecting the fundraising award.

Kedaara was recognised for raising USD 1.74bn for its fourth India fund as well as investments in the likes of Dairy Day Ice Cream and Lenskart and an agreed exit from Aavas Financiers. However, Manish Kejriwal, a founder and managing partner at the firm, emphasized the strength of the team and culture that drives this activity.

“Two things stand out. First, our ownership culture. Every member of the firm, through to my secretary, gets carry. Second, the obligation to dissent – you’ve got to challenge your boss. The culture that has been created because of that can be unwieldly at times, but we’d rather have it that way than not,” he said.

China-focused Qiming was named venture capital firm of the year on the back of 12 months featuring a string of IPOs and a bumper trade sale exit from medical device supplier APT Medical. Grace Lee, a partner and COO at the firm, highlighted the progress made since Qiming claimed the VC fundraising prize at the AVCJ Awards in 2022.

“We stayed focused and increased the bar on our investments. We worked with our portfolio companies, and we concentrated on getting cash back to investors,” she said. “Over the last two years, we’ve had 10 IPOs and returned USD 1bn to investors.”

The 2022 awards were referenced once again by Australia’s Potentia Capital and Japan-based J-Star on triumphing in the mid-cap deal category for their joint acquisition of software business Jinjer. This collaboration was the result of a meeting at the awards presentation ceremony.

“We are excited to be breaking new ground as the first Japan-Australian joint private equity deal,” said Michael McNamara, a partner at Potentia. “This all started back in 2022 when Michael Bryant sat next to Shima-san from J-Star and the relationship blossomed from there.”

For Chou, the 2024 awards were an opportunity to reflect on a 35-year career spent exclusively at Morgan Stanley. He presided over an operation that raised five pan-regional funds, achieved assets under management of around USD 5bn, and backed the likes of Belle International and China Feihe in China, Hyundai Rotem in South Korea, and Five Star Business Finance in India.

“For those of us who were doing this in the mid-1990s, I think it’s fair to say this industry has far exceeded whatever modest expectations we had at that time. What’s happened over the past 25-30 years has been fantastic. But standing here today and thinking about the future, frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if the industry exceeds whatever expectations we have today,” said Chou.

“Ours at the end of the day is a governance and ownership model, and my sense is there’s just so much more to do.”

The winners in full:

• Fundraising of the Year – Venture Capital: 5Y Capital Evolution Fund III (5Y Capital)
• Fundraising of the Year – Mid Cap: Kedaara Capital IV (Kedaara Capital)
• Fundraising of the Year – Large Cap: Bain Capital Asia Fund V (Bain Capital)
• Deal of the Year – Mid Cap: Jinjer (J-Star, Potentia Capital)
• Deal of the Year – Large Cap: HDFC Credila (EQT, ChrysCapital Partners)
• Exit of the Year – IPO: Kokusai Electric (KKR)
• Exit of the Year – Small Cap: Moritex Corporation (Trustar Capital)
• Exit of the Year – Mid Cap: Japan Wind Development (Bain Capital)
• Exit of the Year – Large Cap: McDonald’s China (Carlyle)
• Deal of the Year – Secondary: ChrysCapital Partners
• Responsible Investment: Team Global Express (Allegro Funds)
• Operational Value Add: EFRAC (Mandala Capital) & Island Hospital (Affinity Equity Partners)
• Firm of the Year – Venture Capital: Qiming Venture Partners
• Firm of the Year – Mid Cap: Kedaara Capital
• Firm of the Year – Large Cap: Bain Capital
• AVCJ Special Achievement: H. Chin Chou

The judges…

Main categories: Adams Street Partners, AlpInvest Partners, Asia Alternatives, Axiom Asia, Azimuth Asset Consulting, HarbourVest Partners, HQ Capital, LGT Capital Partners, Manulife, MetLife, Morgan Stanley Private Equity Solutions, Pantheon, Portfolio Advisors

Responsible Investment Award: APAC Advisors, Asian Development Bank, GPCA, International Finance Corporation, Kroll, LGT Capital Partners

Operational Value Add Award: AlixPartners, Alvarez & Marsal, Bain & Company, KPMG, PwC