News and developments in Asia private equity from Reuters News for the week ending June 29.

JUNE 29

PRIVATE EQUITY firm 3i is axing more than a third of its staff and closing offices from Barcelona to Shanghai, retreating to its northern European roots in a bid to revive a business hit by a spate of poor deals and appease disgruntled shareholders.

THE FEDERAL Trade Commission has approved a Sony Corp-led consortium's purchase of EMI Music Publishing, without having to make any divestitures, the FTC said.

NESTLE AUSTRALIA Ltd said it has agreed to sell its Peters Ice Cream business to Australia's largest private equity firm, Pacific Equity Partners, for an undisclosed sum.

AUSTRALIA'S NO.2 department store chain David Jones said it had received an unsolicited $1.65 billion bid from a consortium led by Britain's EB Private Equity - a firm it did not know much about and was unknown to many market players.

ASIA-PACIFIC stock sales dropped to a four-year low in the first half of 2012 as lingering concerns about Europe's sovereign debt crisis and a slowdown in China rocked investors' confidence in new listings in the region, Thomson Reuters data shows.

JUNE 28

CHINESE WIRE maker Fushi Copperweld Inc said it has agreed to be taken private by a group led by its co-chief executive, in a deal valuing the company at about $364 million.

ASIA PACIFIC lending, excluding Japan, was 26 percent lower at $128 billion in the first six months of 2012, compared to a year earlier, as companies opted to raise bonds and bilateral loans instead of syndicated loans.

JUNE 27

U.S. BUYOUT firm KKR & Co Ltd has agreed to buy a majority of Australia's GenesisCare in a deal which values the company at up to A$600 million ($602 million), two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

A GERMAN banker who admitted to taking bribes during the sale of a stake in the Formula One business, was sentenced to 8 years and six months in prison by a Munich court.

AUSTRALIAN MINING and media magnates, looking to cash in on valuations at their lowest in a decade, are behind stake buys and takeover bids worth nearly $7 billion in the last two weeks, offering some hope for moribund equity and deals markets.

JUNE 26

GLOBAL PRIVATE equity funds, which poured tens of billions of dollars into India investments when the economy and currency were flying high a few years ago, may be stuck with those holdings much longer than planned as the rupee's plunge plays havoc with their exit options.

THE FOUNDER and top shareholder of struggling Australian surfwear maker Billabong International is open to another takeover offer after rejecting an approach earlier this year, the Australian Financial Review reported.

JUNE 25

SOUTH KOREAN private equity fund MBK Partners has been chosen as preferred bidder for a controlling stake in electronics retailer in Hi-mart Co Ltd, with local media putting the bid value as high as 1.25 trillion Korean won ($1.1 billion).

EUROPEAN PRIVATE equity fund Permira is moving its first global technology, media and telecoms partner to Asia as it eyes higher investments in the region.

SHARES IN Australia's Billabong slid 36 percent to a record low when they resumed trading after a heavily discounted share sale, as investors bailed out of a company they fear has lost its way.

LARSEN & TOUBRO Ltd, India's biggest engineering conglomerate, is seeking to sell a stake in its infrastructure unit to help fund its expansion as economic growth drives demand for roads, ports and bridges.

JUNE 23

JAPAN'S STRUGGLING Renesas Electronics Corp plans to start capital raising talks with KKR, including issuing about 50 billion yen ($621 million) in new shares to the U.S. investment firm,Nikkei business daily reported.

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