On July 3, Actis Capital said in a statement that it sold its 70% stake in Vesta, a Chinese kitchen equipment maker, to Illinois Tool Works Inc., a manufacturer of products in the energy, health care, energy, and aerospace industries. However, the sale price was not disclosed.

Chinese private equity companies continued to look to third party buyers to sell their investments to, as China has stopped new listings since October last year. As a result, the Chinese initial public offerings market was closed to new deals.

This temporary closure of the Chinese IPO market was put in place so that no new shares would weigh down an already depressed local stock market. This regulation also aimed to have IPO-aspiring firms abide by stricter accounting practices.

Private equity firms sold China stakes worth US$1.8 billion to corporate buyers in 2012, while selling US$2.6 billion for this year to date, according to Dealogic.