An affiliate of private equity firm Sequoia Capital China is to make a RMB348 million (USD51.7 million) investment in Noah Holdings’ asset management business by acquiring equity interests Noah’s affiliate, Gopher Asset Management.
Gopher was founded in March 2010 and specialises in fund-of-funds management in the private equity, real estate, hedge funds, credit products and family office businesses.
As of 30 June 2016, Gopher's total assets under management reached RMB101.2 billion.
"Sequoia has been an important existing shareholder and business partner of Noah. We are excited about its decision to participate in our fast-growing asset management business. We also view Sequoia's continuous investment as a strong vote of confidence in Noah's long-term growth prospects. We believe the deeper strategic cooperation will ultimately benefit our clients and shareholders," says Jingbo Wang, co-founder, chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of Noah.
"The new strategic relationship with Sequoia will provide a strong foundation to our further development," adds Zhe Yin, co-founder of Noah and chief executive officer of Gopher. "Sequoia's valuable expertise in global private equity investments will help us strengthen our investment capabilities, expand our presence in Hong Kong and the US, and further solidify our leading position in the asset management industry."
"Noah is a great institutional partner for Sequoia and its asset management business has significant potential for accelerated growth. We see tremendous synergies between Gopher and us. Our investment and cooperation will help Gopher extend its product capabilities both domestically and internationally to better serve Chinese high net worth as well as institutional clients," says Neil Shen, founding and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China and a board director of Noah.
