The private equity industry has developed for more than two decades on China’smarket. By the end of 2014, there had been more than 8,000 active PE investmentinstitutions in China and a total capital of RMB4.00 trillion under management,with a leap-forward growth in the market size in the past decade. With the launchof SMEB and ChiNext in 2004 and 2009 and expansion of the New Third Board in2014, China’s PE investments has been dragged up for the opening up of thecapital market and gradually become mature in the past 10 years. Meanwhile, Chinahas ushered in the “era of equity investment”. Under this context, FOFs, insurers,listed companies and other institutional investors have become increasinglyactive on the equity investment market and regarded equity investments as animportant category of investment for the purpose of asset allocation or appreciation.

The 9^th China Limited Partners Summit sponsored by Zero2IPO Group,China’s most renowned comprehensive service provider in the VC/PE industry, washeld at Hyatt Regency Hangzhou and attracted many insiders. The summit washighlighted by the grand unveiling of Zero2IPO--China PE LP Ranking 2015.

Guidance funds, as an important tool for the government to promoting thedevelopment of the PE investment market and facilitating innovation andbusiness startup, have become indispensable investors on China's VC/PE investmentmarket. According to the ranking list published by Zero2IPO Group, Technology-BasedMiddle and Small-Sized Enterprise VC Guidance Fund ranked the first on the list of Top20 Guidance Funds of the Year 2014; Zhongguancun VC Guidance Fund andVenture CapitalGuiding Fund of Shanghai ranked second and third; ZhejiangProvincial VC Guidance Fund and Qingdao Municipal VC Guidance Fund took the fourth andfifth places.

In recent years, China's FOFs haswitnessed rapid development and become more and more important on China'scapital market. According to the “Zero2IPO—Top20 FOFs of the Year 2014”,ProsperityInvestment ranked first by virtue of its excellent performancein fundraising, investment and exit; Beijing E-TownInternational Investment & Development Co., Ltd. took the secondplace; and Guochuangkaiyuan Equity Investment Fund (Limited Partnership) ranked third. In the meantime, foreign LPs continued to dominate domestic VC/PEmarket based on their advantages. In addition, LGT Capital Partners, Adams StreetPartners, Partners Group, Siguler Guff, EMA China,FLAG Squadron Asia Limited andsome other foreign institutions can also be found on the ranking list.

Against the backdrop of a looser policyenvironment, National Social Security Fund, insurance funds and other largeinstitutions have brought about a significant growth in the investment amountof China’s VC/PEs. According to the Zero2IPO—Top 10Institutional LPs of the Year 2014, National Council for Social SecurityFund ranked first; CDB Capital Co., Ltd. and Aeon Life Insurance Co., Ltd. ranked thesecond and third places; PICC Property and Casualty Co. Ltd., China EverbrightLtd. and China RE Asset Management Company Ltd. were also on theranking list.

Ever since its commencement in 2001, Zero2IPO—ChinaVenture Capital & Private Equity Annual Ranking has been widely recognized in theindustry by virtue of its independence, fairness and objectivity and deemed asa performance barometer of financial institutions, thus providing an importantreference for institutions in fundraising and investments. To make the Zero2IPO—China PE LP Ranking 2015, Zero2IPO Group conducted an overall survey on fundraising,investment and management and took the capital amount investable in China, the newlyincreased capital amount investable, the number of cumulatively invested VC/PEfunds and the investment amount, the number of newly invested VC/PE funds and theinvestment amount as important reference indicators. On the basis of the actualsituations, Zero2IPO Group made annualadjustments for indicators of the ranking, so as to reflect the current situationof Chinese government guidance funds, FOFs and institutional LPs to thegreatest extent. According to Zero2IPOGroup, as the sponsor of the summit, the ranking helps the industry to learn moreabout the development of government guidance funds, FOFs and otherinstitutional LPs, enhances the exchanges and cooperation between institutionalLPs and VC/PE firms, in order to promote the further development of China’s equityinvestment industry.