Asia Private Equity Weekly News, March 18, 2013

HONG KONG Mar 18 (Reuters) - News and developments in Asia private equity from Reuters News for the week ending March 15.

MARCH 15

A CREDIT crunch is stifling thousands of mostly small, private companies in China that coax energy savings from smokestack industries, further dealing a blow to Beijing's drive to foster green innovation and ease choking pollution.

CARLYLE GROUP LP shares were sold in an unregistered block trade for $30.75 each, a 5 percent discount to the closing price in regular market trading, a source familiar with the matter said.

MARCH 14

THE SUCCESS of a broad U.S. crackdown on offshore tax dodging will be determined in part by China's cooperation, but talks with Chinese officials are making little headway, former U.S. Treasury Department officials and tax professionals said.

ASIA PRIVATE equity firm Olympus Capital said it had launched Olympus Capital Asia Credit, a lending business based in Singapore that will offer loans of $20 million to $100 million to mid-sized corporations in Asia.

MARCH 13

U.S. PRIVATE equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC is in talks to sell its 11 percent stake in India's largest direct-to-home service operator Dish TV India Ltd , two sources with direct knowledge of the development told Reuters on Wednesday.

MARCH 12

CARLYLE GROUP and KKR & Co LP are among the bidders to have made first round offers to buy a minority stake in Thai Life Insurance Co Ltd, in a deal said to be worth about $500 million, according to people close to the auction.

SIMCERE PHARMACEUTICAL Group received a buyout offer from a consortium led by founder-chairman Jinsheng Ren and including Hony Capital, the latest in a series of China-based companies going private.

STATE-BACKED lender Development Bank of Japan launched a 150 billion yen ($1.56 billion) fund to invest in domestic companies.

MARCH 11

CVC CAPITAL Partners and PT Multipolar Tbk launched an up to $1.36 billion offering of shares in retailer PT Matahari Department Store, seeking to benefit from growing investor appetite for consumer stocks in Indonesia and partially cash out of one of their most profitable investments in the region.

U.S. PRIVATE equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP wants to boost its stake in Japanese railway and property group Seibu Holdings Inc by as much as 4 percent as Seibu plans to relist its shares.

MARCH 9

PRIVATE EQUITY firm TPG Capital has purchased the highly sought after assets of Australian poultry firm Ingham Enterprises, Bob Ingham confirmed in a statement.