By Kane Wu
HONG KONG (Reuters) -FirstLight Capital, a Chinese buyout firm co-led by former Alibaba Group Chairman Daniel Zhang, is seeking to raise $1 billion in its inaugural U.S. dollar-denominated fund, people with knowledge of the fundraising told Reuters on Tuesday.
FirstLight, which focuses on consumer, tech and healthcare sectors in China, has already received initial commitments for the dollar fund, said one of the sources, who declined to be named as the information was not public.
Typically a private equity fund takes about 12 to 18 months to complete fundraising and can start investing once committed capital reaches a certain threshold.
A FirstLight spokesperson said the firm focuses on “buy and build” in China-related markets and has begun deploying capital but declined to comment on other fundraising details.
Zhang worked at Alibaba for 16 years, rising to hold the CEO and chairman titles before announcing in June 2023 he would step down from those positions to focus on the company’s cloud business. However, in a surprise move in September that year he quit that role as well.
A former accountant, he is known as the architect behind the company’s annual flagship “Singles Day” shopping festival.
FirstLight was founded by Liu Xiaodan, former CEO and chair of investment bank Huatai United Securities in 2019, and had been investing in local currency before raising the dollar fund.
The fund has offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Its portfolio includes BYD Semiconductor Co, Ruichen Pet Healthcare and Changjing Electric Tech, its website shows.
(Reporting by Kane WuEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
