Private equity chips away at record China backlog

A decision by private equity firm Carlyle to sue its own portfolio company in China, ATMU, for $369 million after the latter missed a four-year IPO deadline is a striking example of growing problem in China   how to get out.

Private equity firms are wrestling with ways to whittle down a record overhang of companies due for sale by thinking up new and creative ways to sell out.   

Funds are seeking to harvest a bumper crop of investments they made when China was growing at break-neck speed. But they are finding it no easy task as the country’s regulators tightly...