News and developments in Asia private equity from Reuters News for the week ending Aug. 24.

AUGUST 24

EUROPEAN PRIVATE equity firm Permira is buying Japan's largest sushi restaurant chain, Akindo Sushiro Co Ltd, for $1 billion including debt, in what is set to be the nation's second-biggest buyout deal this year.

INDIA ONLINE retailer Flipkart said it had completed a fourth round of fundraising, with capital injected from MIH, Iconiq Capital, Tiger Global and Accel Partners, which will be used to expand supply.

AUGUST 23

ALP ERCIL, the former Asia head of New York-based Perry Capital, closed his own Asia-Pacific fund to fresh money last week after raising $940 million in the biggest hedge fund launch in the region for 2012, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

LI KA-SHING'S venture capital fund Horizons Ventures and Harbor Pacific Capital have invested $5 million in language software company Ginger Software, Ginger said in a statement.

FIDELITY GROWTH Partners, the private equity arm of Fidelity Worldwide Investment, said it will invest about $20 million in Indian data analytics services provider AbsolutData for a minority stake.

ACCEL PARTNERS has acquired a minority stake in India's ticketing website BookMyShow.com for 1 billion rupees ($18 million), according to a statement from media and entertainment group Network18.

SOUTH KOREA'S Woongjin Holdings Co said in a regulatory filing on Thursday it is considering selling its unlisted solar cell unit, Woongjin Polysilicon Co, as part of restructuring efforts, but added that nothing has been decided.

AUGUST 22

GLOBAL BUYOUT fund KKR & Co LP is in early stage discussions to launch a debt fund to invest in India that could raise $750 million to $1 billion, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

CHINA'S NO. 2 sportswear group, Li Ning Co Ltd, posted an 85 percent slide in first-half net profit on Wednesday, as unsold inventories piled up and marketing costs rose in the face of heightened competition and slower domestic economic growth.

THE UK business of Indian tour operator Cox & Kings Ltd will receive $138 million in funds from a Citigroup C.N venture capital arm to help it reduce debt, the parent company said, sending its shares sharply higher.

A UNIT of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund has bought a 22 percent stake in CITIC Capital Holdings, linking one of the Middle East's most powerful investors with one of China's top investment funds.

THE PRIVATE equity arm of Standard Chartered has invested $45 million for a minority stake in Indian engineering services firm Inox India Ltd, the companies said in a joint statement.

AUGUST 21

THE SOVEREIGN wealth funds of China and Singapore have invested a combined $1 billion in a U.S. plant that will export cheap liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Asia, a source said, becoming the latest Asian institutions to tap into the gas boom in the United States.

KKR & CO has placed a bet on China's $38 billion youth apparel retail market, saying that it had acquired a stake in privately held retailer Novo Holdco Ltd for $30 million.

AUGUST 20

U.S. AND China focused venture capital firm GGV Capital, whose past investments include hiSoft Technology Co Ltd, Alibaba Group and Tudou, said it has raised a fourth fund of $625 million, comprising $520 million and RMB650 million ($102 million).

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