In "Venture capitalists rethink big bets on China", which appeared yesterday on MercuryNews.com, the article discusses a pull-back in investing in China by venture capitalists.  Among the reasons given:

• Few and poor performing IPOs of Chinese companies, both in China and in the US;
• Uncertainty about the Chinese economy;
• The rise of "copycat" companies:
• Too much capital chasing too few deals;
• China's opaque regulatory environment;
• Intellectual property issues;
• Arcane laws on foreign investment in China;
• Complex ownership structures; and
• Uncertain tax environment.

The article does point out the huge potential of the Chinese market, and indicates that both mobile and cleantech are among the promising areas in China.

Here's the link:  
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_23023790/venture-capitalists-rethink-big-bets-china

Ernst & Young recently released its newsletter "Private Equity Roundup - China" for the second quarter of 2012.  Quick take-aways:

• PE transaction activity was up 30% over Q1 but was still below 2011 averages.
• Fundraising was down 34% from Q1, and the majority of funds raised were for US-dollar-denominated vehicles.
• Exits have been down in recent quarters due to sluggish M&A markets and a difficult global IPO market.
• China's attractiveness for PE investment remains intact.  Rising per capita incomes, increased consumerism and favorable demographics are the underpinnings for China's growth story.

Link to E&Y Private Equity Roundup - China report:  http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/Emerging_markets_-_Private_equity_roundup_-_China/$FILE/Private_equity_roundup_China.pdf

The article on Forbes.com "Private Equity In China: Too Much Money, Too Few Deals" explores some of the issues confronting the Chinese private equity industry.  The article points out how "official" statistics may understate the actual situation, as unofficial estimates indicated that at the end of 2011 there were more than 10,000 venture capital and private equity firms in China, while official estimates were for 882 such firms.  As the title implies, the article argues that there is too much money in China and a shortage of good deals.  The article points out other issues, including:

• The advantage local firms have over international firms (they can act faster and have more exit options);
• Debt financing is difficult to obtain in China; and
• The rise of Yuan-denominated funds.

The article is an interesting read.  Here's the link:  
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jackperkowski/2012/08/08/private-equity-in-china-too-much-money-too-few-deals/ 

The Reuters article "In IPO Capital of the World, Western Banks Go Hungry," highlights Shenzen's meteoric rise in the rankings for initial public offerings.  While Shenzhen's IPO market is currently a local market for local participants, this may change as China is planning to spend $45 billion to create a financial hub in Shenzhen.  According to the article, this is part of a drive to internationalize the yuan, deepen ties with Hong Kong and establish a financial market on par with New York or London.  Here's the link:   http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/02/us-china-shenzhen-ipos-idUSBRE86108U20120702

Two recent articles discussing China have caught my eye.  The first is the VentureBeat article "As venture capitalists turn their backs on China, funding dries up."  This article starts off by saying that "venture capital investment is hitting the skids in China..." and points to data indicating a steep decline in venture deals and investment in the first quarter of this year.  Reasons for the decline are cited as the exit markets not functioning, a loss of belief in the China fast growth story, a slow-down of Chinese economic growth, reallocation of capital to US deals, and the impact of recent Chinese accounting scandals.

The second article is from the From the Crowd blog on Fortune Term Sheet entitled "VCs 'turn their backs' on China?" in which contributor Jeff Richards of GGV Ventures provides some of his thoughts on venture investing in China.  He provides a balanced view of the risks of investing in China and the benefits of investing in China.  His points are (1) good investors invest in both good and bad markets; (2) VCs must work harder now to find the best companies; (3) the Chinese domestic market opportunity is real and growing; and (4) the risks are real and remain, but real VCs will  remain and the tourist investors will go home.

Links to the articles:  

VentureBeat:  http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/08/vc-china-funding-dries-up/ 
From the Crowd:  http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/05/09/vcs-turn-their-backs-on-china/ 

Reuters reports that China's internet sector has seen a dramatic fall in venture capital investment.  According to the article, Chinese Internet companies raised $138.5 million in the first quarter of 2012, compared to a whopping $866.5 million invested in the same quarter last year, a decline of 84% (data from Thomson Reuters).  Last year, China's internet sector received $3.6 billion in venture investment, over double the $1.7 billion invested in 2010.  

The article cites several reasons for the decline in venture investment in the Chinese Internet sector include a general pull-back from an overheated sector, recent accounting scandals involving Chinese firms listed on US stock exchanges, tougher US listing requirements for Chinese firms, poor market performance of recent listings, and a shifting towards newer sectors.

I was recently in China meeting with venture capital firms, and the sense that I had was that there was a general cooling attitude towards venture capital investing in Chinese tech companies.  In addition to the factors cited above, a common reason that I heard was that liquidity in general (IPOs and M&A) was proving more difficult and taking longer than expected.

It's a good article and worth a read.  Here's the link:  
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/23/net-us-dealtalk-china-internet-idUSBRE83M0AY20120423