Hopu was founded in 2007 by
Fang Fenglei,
Richard Ong and Dominic Ho. Fang and Ong were previously senior executives at
Goldman Sachs while Ho was former head of
KPMG China. Hopu's first fund of $2.5 billion included Goldman Sachs and
Temasek as its cornerstone investors. At the time, Hopu's description as
private equity fund was criticized since it stated it would invest in Chinese local companies yet its two largest deals were acquisitions of shares in
Bank of China and
China Construction Bank sold by
Royal Bank of Scotland and
Bank of America respectively. In November 2010, it was reported that Hopu will not be raising a second fund, signalling the eventual winding down of the firm. By then Hopu was able to source deals in China establishing a record that many international firms were unable to replicate. Ho who had already long planned his retirement would retire from Hopu at that time. In February 2011, Ong left Hopu to found his own firm,
RRJ Capital as Hopu looked closer to winding down. In November 2013 after a two-year hiatus, Hopu returned to the private equity scene by raising a $2 billion for its second fund. In February 2017, Hopu and
Arm Holdings established the Hopu-Arm Innovation Fund. The fund owns part of Arm's China unit, which was spun off by
SoftBank Group in 2018. In December 2017, Hopu targeted $2.5 billion in fundraising for its third fund. In 2018, Fang hired Zhang Hongli, who was previously vice president of
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and gave him a large stake in Hopu. However the two fell out and Fang drew up plans to reorganize Hopu to marginalize Zhang. In 2021, Zhang and then-Hopu CEO, Lau Teck Sien launched a
boardroom coup in an attempt to take over Hopu. In June 2023, Fang quietly settled with Lau, who stepped aside. A few months later Zhang was detained by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and pled guilty to charges of accepting bribes while at ICBC. In 2021, Hopu launched the Hopu Magnolia Fund that was focused on China
growth capital. In April 2023, it was reported it had raised $141 million of its trimmed $250 million target. == Notable deals ==