Supplies Leading China-Based Furniture Maker and Exporter With Expansion
Capital
HONG KONG, Nov. 21 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Darby Overseas Investments Ltd.
("Darby"), the private equity arm of Franklin Templeton Investments and a
leading provider of private equity and mezzanine capital in the emerging
markets, announced that its Darby Asia Mezzanine Fund II ("DAMF II") made its
first investment, in Shayne International Holdings Limited ("Shayne"). The
US$20 million financing takes the form of notes with warrants and Darby will
join Shayne's Board of Directors.
Based in Hangzhou, China, Shayne is a well established manufacturer and
exporter of high-end upholstered furniture and leather apparel, selling
mainly to the US, where its customers include well known retailers and
department stores. The company's manufacturing operation was originally based
in Taiwan and was subsequently moved to China.
Richard Frank, Darby's chief executive officer, commented, "Our
fundamental investment strategy is based on supplying otherwise scarce risk
capital to well managed mid-cap companies with good growth prospects. Shayne
is one of those companies and we are very pleased that it represents the
first investment by DAMF II. The company has an excellent record of over 30
years of high quality production and export performance."
Jay Shane, managing director of Shayne, said the funds would be used
mainly for investment in new production facilities and funding of new sales
and marketing initiatives. "This is an attractive source of long-term
capital for us and we have been able to take advantage of Darby's broad
experience of mezzanine financing for medium-sized companies," he added.
Darby's first managed Asia mezzanine fund was launched in 1998 and became
fully invested in 2004 after committing over $275 million. The firm has
played a pioneering role in bringing mezzanine -- a hybrid of both debt and
equity -- to emerging market regions, initially in Latin America, Asia and
more recently in Central and Eastern Europe.
Darby Overseas Investments was founded in 1994. In 2003 Darby became a
fully owned subsidiary of Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE: BEN), a global
investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton
Investments. Franklin Templeton Investments provides global and domestic
investment management solutions managed by its Franklin, Templeton, Mutual
Series, Fiduciary Trust, and Darby investment teams. The San Mateo,
California-based company has more than 50 years of investment experience and
$526.8 billion in assets under management as of October 31, 2006.
