Hidden Hill Capital, the private equity (PE) arm of global logistics giant GLP, has closed its second RMB-denominated PE fund at almost 8 billion yuan (over $1.1 billion), the parent company announced on Tuesday.
The new fund attracted capital commitments from both existing and new limited partners (LPs), including insurance firms, industry capital, funds-of-funds (FOFs), new energy companies, and state-owned investment platforms in China, according to a post on GLP’s official WeChat account.
Hidden Hill Capital’s second RMB-denominated PE fund will continue the focus of its predecessor fund to invest in modern logistics services, intelligent and digital supply chain solutions, logistics technologies, and innovative companies in the new energy sector.
Hidden Hill, which focuses on China and cross-border opportunities in Asia, invests in minority, significant minority, and strategic equity in companies in modern logistics, digital supply chains, renewable energy, and related technologies.
The new fund will help it double down on China, which remains the world’s biggest logistics market with the total value of social logistics goods hitting 350 trillion yuan ($49.1 trillion) in 2023, according to estimates by the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing (CFLP).
Social logistics goods refer to goods being transported to buyers from suppliers for the first time, including agricultural and industrial products, imported goods, recycled resources, and goods produced by organisations and residents.
“The logistics market has continued its rapid expansion in the past 20 years, with technological advancements bringing radical changes to the sector,” said Hidden Hill’s founding and managing partner Richard Dong in the WeChat post. “Leveraging our long-term industry insights and global resources, Hidden Hill has invested in and empowered leading companies in the fields of robotics, autonomous driving, and new energy to help them elevate the efficiency of modern logistics and gain global competitiveness.”
Hidden Hill set up the second RMB fund more than five and half years after the establishment of its first RMB PE fund, the 10-billion-yuan ($1.4 billion) Hidden Hill Modern Logistics Private Equity Fund, upon the firm’s inception in May 2018.
The second RMB PE fund is the latest by Hidden Hill, which has set up both RMB and USD funds in the past few years. The firm closed its oversubscribed USD fund Hidden Hill Foundation Fund at $465 million in December 2022. A group of LPs from North America, Asia, and Europe committed to the fund, including Asia-focused secondary PE company NewQuest Capital Partners as the lead LP.
It announced in October 2021 the first close of its RMB-denominated Hidden Hill Carbon Neutral Fund at 200 million yuan ($28.1 million), with a target to raise a total of 1 billion yuan ($140.4 million). Launched in a partnership with Chinese renewable energy SaaS provider YKC Clean Energy Technologies, the fund was built to invest in smart electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in China.
Hidden Hill’s main funds also include the 5-billion-yuan ($701.8 million) Hidden Hill Yueyang Fund, which is a separately managed RMB vehicle that Hidden Hill introduced in December 2020 jointly with Chinese local government-backed investment firms. The fund is tasked to support the logistics industry development in Yueyang City in southern China’s mountainous Hunan Province.
In total, Hidden Hill’s assets under management (AUM) have exceeded $4 billion across eight active USD and RMB funds. The firm has invested $2.4 billion in about 90 companies so far, according to GLP’s official website.
The portfolio companies of Hidden Hill include COSCO Shipping, a Chinese state-owned marine transportation group; air cargo business China Southern Airlines Cargo Logistics; and Indonesian courier services startup J&T Global Express.
The firm also backed Sany Heavy Truck, a truck manufacturer affiliated with China’s Sany Heavy Industry; Farizon Auto, a commercial new energy vehicle (NEV) brand owned by Chinese multinational automaker Geely; and Inceptio Technology, which develops autonomous trucks. It is also an investor in a fleet management group formed through a merger between Tencent-backed firm G7 Connect and Alibaba Group-backed E6 Technology.