The theme at this year’s Boao Forum for Asia, an annual nexus of politicians and businessmen sponsored by the Chinese government, was the pro-market reforms outlined last year during the leadership’s Third Plenum’.
Private capital was given a high-profile role at the conference, given its potential to both help private companies move up the value chain and to modernise the management of state-owned enterprises.
But according to both private equity executives and former government officials, the current reality is that overweening regulation is hampering the evolution of Chinese private equity.
A panel discussion at Boao on the shift of private equity to buyout strategies,...