News and developments in Asia private equity from Reuters News for the week ending July 27.

JULY 27

AUSTRALIAN SURFWEAR company Billabong International said a takeover offer from TPG Capital worth A$694 million ($712 million) was too low, but it would still open its books to the private equity firm.

BLACKSTONE REAL Estate Partners VII, the fund that has proved one of Blackstone Group LP's most popular offerings with investors, has secured a rare commitment from China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange, a source familiar with the matter said.

SOUTH KOREA's government drew no bids in its third attempt to sell its 6 trillion won ($5.2 billion) controlling stake in Woori Finance Holdings, dooming a sale that analysts had considered a long-shot for recouping government bailout funds.

TWO CHINESE private equity funds are reported to be close to finalising a deal to buy the asset management arm of Franco-Belgian financial group Dexia as part of the wind down of what was once the world's biggest lender.

JULY 26

THE BUYER group for MBK Partners' stake in a Taiwan cable TV unit said it is not sure whether the conditions laid out by local regulators for the $2.4 billion deal are achievable, though it still aims to close the purchase.

TPG HAS acquired China speciality packaging company HCP Holdings Inc from members of the founding Chen family for about $500 million, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

JULY 25

CHINA'S SOVEREIGN wealth fund China Investment Corp suffered its first-ever drop in net profit in 2011 and predicted tough trading conditions may persist as volatile financial markets dent stock investments.

SHARES OF appliance retailer GOME Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd, which is backed by private equity firm Bain Capital, tumbled 17 percent to a record low after it became the latest Chinese consumer-related company to warn of weak earnings as the world's second-largest economy slows.

HONG KONG-based Kerogen Capital, a private equity fund led by two former J.P.Morgan bankers, has closed a more than $1 billion energy fund, according to a statement from Forbes Private Capital Group, which managed and advised on the fund.

JULY 24

TOOL MAKER Stanley Black & Decker said it agreed to acquire privately held Infastech, a maker of engineered mechanical fasteners, for $850 million in cash to expand its footprint in emerging markets.

CHINA PLANS to double the amount insurers can invest in private equity and allow them to trade financial derivatives both at home and abroad as part of efforts to broaden their investment scope, according to a set of draft regulations seen by Reuters.

TPG HAS made a fresh takeover bid for Australian surfwear company Billabong International worth A$694 million ($712 million), Billabong said, just five months after a higher offer was knocked back.

AUSTRALIA'S TOP two winemakers, Treasury Wine Estates and privately owned Accolade Wines, agreed a deal on in which Accolade will close its local bottling operations, leading to 175 job cuts or nearly 10 percent of its staff.

U.S. ALTERNATIVE investment firm SkyBridge Capital will launch a $250 to $500 million Asia-focused fund next year as part of a planned expansion into the region, its founder said.

SOUTH KOREA'S Woongjin Holdings Co has opted to team up with a local private equity fund to buy a 31 percent stake in water purifier maker Woongjin Coway Co Ltd that the parent company put up for sale earlier this year.

JAPANESE ELECTRONIC components maker Nidec Sankyo Corp said it would buy 51.42 percent of South Korea's SCD Co , a maker of refrigerator and other motors, from Skylake Incuvest's private equity fund in a cash-only deal, without disclosing the value of the deal.

JULY 23

AUSTRALIA'S CHAMP Private Equity plans to sell its Blue Star communications group in New Zealand and has appointed Goldman Sachs to manage the sale, a spokesman for Blue Star said.

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