Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group was leading two financing exercises worth a total of US$27 million in China as it strived to heighten its presence in the country, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Runstar International, a Beijing-based online game developer, was receiving US$14 million from an investor group that included Carlyle, China Merchant Fortune Ventures and Sino-Korean Wireless Fund, the paper said.

In the second transaction, Carlyle, Chengwei Ventures and Pacific Venture Partners are putting US$13 million into Shanghai-based semiconductor designer Huaya Microelectronics Inc.

So far this year, the U.S. venture-capital firm has invested US$40 million in China, which dwarfed last year��s total investment of less than US$15 million.

In September, Carlyle invested US$15 million in Shanghai-based media company Target Media Holdings Ltd., which operates one of the country��s largest commercial building video advertising networks and plans an initial public offering (IPO) in NASDAQ next year.

It was also an investor in Chinese online travel service provider Ctrip.com, which made the strongest NASDAQ debut in three years in December.

The equity fund has committed between US$150 million and US$200 million to China, about 10 percent of its funds under management globally.

According to the latest statistics, foreign private equity investment in China is expected to surge more than 40 percent this year.

In the first half of this year, overseas equity funds like Carlyle and rival Newbridge Capital Corp. injected about US$380 million in Chinese companies, compared with last year��s total of US$340 million

Source: Shenzhen Daily-Agencies