Author: centurium

June 6, 2022, Shanghai — ANE Inc. (9956.HK), a portfolio company of Centurium Capital and a leading less-than-truckload (LTL) logistics service provider in China, released its 2021 ESG Report on May 31, highlighting its ESG commitments and efforts in green operation, efficiency improvement, supply chain management and employment management in 2021.

Jeff Wang, Chairman of ANE, commented, “We are highly aware of the importance of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) while developing our business. It is our corporate responsibility as an industry leader to integrate ESG into the Company’s daily operations and management philosophy.”

Michael Chen, Managing Director of Centurium Capital and a non-executive director of ANE, serves as the chairman of ANE’s ESG Committee. The committee was set up under the Board of Directors since the company’s IPO, forming a three-layer ESG governance structure which comprises the Board of Directors, the ESG committee, and the ESG work group. The concept of sustainable development is implemented in an all-round, multi-angle manner, launching a new chapter in ANE’s ESG governance.

As a leader in the less-than truckload (LTL) express freight industry, ANE operates one of the largest self-operated truck fleet in China’s LTL industry with over 4,000 high-capacity trucks and 4,600 trailers. The company has been committing significant resources to effectively reduce the impact of road transportation on the environment.

In 2021, ANE has identified climate change risks and continued to promote low-carbon development through green transportation and green office initiatives. Moreover, ANE has formulated energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission targets, with a plan to increase the use of renewable energy, and energy efficiency of its transportation vehicles to achieve such targets and promote green development.

The ESG Report revealed that ANE has reduced the consumption of petrol by 19,288 tons through various fuel-efficiency measures and reduced green-house gas emission of the equivalent of 60,647 tons of carbon dioxide.

ANE has also proactively explored the use of renewable energy. Its Logistics Industrial Park in Changshan, Quzhou took the lead in installing 6,000 square meters of rooftop distributed photovoltaics to provide renewable energy power for itself and the park tenants, promoting low-carbon development in the community. In 2021, the power generation capacity of the industrial park’s rooftop photovoltaic project reached 32,000 kWh, effectively achieving energy savings and emissions reduction.

An excellent IT system is the cornerstone to support ANE’s outstanding performance in operational efficiency and end-customer experience. Based on big data, cloud computing and other technological advances, ANE independently developed 56 sets of digital systems for application in all aspects of its operations, promoting the integration of technological innovation and actual operations, implementing digital operations and intelligent decision-making along the entire chain, and effectively reducing operational costs.

ANE has a large logistics management network and relies on an innovative freight partner platform model to attract regional freight operators to join its ecosystem as franchisees and agents. ANE currently has 29,100 freight partners and agents and serves approximately 3.9 million shippers.

Through the continuous optimization of network entry standards and requirements, tracking and evaluation, and value-added empowerment initiatives, ANE works with its franchisees to build a highly efficient, high-quality, and digitalized logistics network.

ANE also share the economic results with its partners, using its accumulated data and industry insights to provide its freight partners and agents with a variety of value-added services (financial and digital tools) to help them develop competitive freight services for large customers. The company also provides operational guidance to help freight partners cope with the increasing complexity of business expansion. Through these resource-sharing initiatives, ANE’s freight partners and agents can leverage ANE’s network coverage, brand recognition and operational support to better serve shippers in the long term.

ANE understands that high-quality corporate governance and a management structure with clear lines of authority are the cornerstones of sound corporate development. Therefore, ANE constantly improves its governance structure, strengthens its hierarchical management structure and enhances the transparency of the Group.  

ANE fulfills its social responsibility by implementing the safety production policy “safety first, prevention first, comprehensive management”, ANE takes on the main responsibility for safety management, strengthening the grading and control of safety risks and the management of hidden dangers in the production area, and guaranteeing the safety of its employees’ life and property.

ANE’s safety training covers all aspects of possible safety hazards in its operations, such as operational norms, fire safety, emergency rescue, and safe driving, covering all of ANE’s front-line operators and drivers. In 2021, ANE conducted 69 safety trainings for new employees and over 1,900 trainings for sorting centers, and more than 30,000 people participated the trainings.

ANE has set up targeted training programs for employees at different levels and with different responsibilities and increased the flexibility of training through a combination of online and offline training formats. In 2021, ANE invested more than RMB11 million in employee training covering all employees and reached 34,476 person/times, with 6.5 employee average training hours.

ANE pays attention to the cultivation of employee talent. The company has a competitive performance-based compensation system and encourages employees to showcase their self-worth through a comprehensive promotion system, tailoring career development paths for employees in different positions and ranks. ANE is committed to creating a diverse workplace, focus on the value of our female employees, and provide equal employment opportunities.

In 2021, ANE continued to invest in taking corporate social responsibilities by giving back to the society. ANE was actively involved in a number of public welfare projects, such as helping farmers to alleviate poverty, fighting the pandemic and natural disasters, making donations, and investing a lot of money and manpower to take up social responsibility and establish a good corporate image.

April 22, 2022, Beijing – Centurium Capital (“Centurium), a leading private equity investment firm in China, today announced its carbon neutral goals and roadmap, underscoring the firm’s commitment to achieve carbon net zero at the firm level by 2025 and at the portfolio level by 2050. In addition, the firm also committed to reducing its employee’s per capita carbon emission by 25% by 2030.

Climate change is a common challenge faced by mankind today and its impact has become more visible in the past century. According to The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), limiting global warming to 1.5ºC would require rapid, far-reaching, and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society. In response, the Chinese government has committed to reach carbon peak by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2060.

Centurium’s carbon neutral goals are a testament to its support for sustainable growth. In the past few months, Centurium has worked with a carbon neutral specialist consulting firm to complete its carbon emission assessment for 2021. The firm will continue to track its carbon footprint annually.

At the portfolio company level, the firm will strengthen its training efforts to support its portfolio companies in areas of carbon management. Meanwhile, Centurium plans to systematically assess its portfolio companies’ positive and negative contributions for sustainable economic growth and encourage them to disclose carbon management performance regularly.

With the implementation of more robust carbon management efforts in the coming years, Centurium plans to include carbon net zero as part of its corporate development strategy. Meanwhile, climate change risk assessment will be included in the firm’s investment strategy and risk management framework.

By 2050, Centurium commits to reach carbon net zero at its portfolio level. The firm will also include carbon management in its selection criteria of suppliers and enhance its green purchase program.

About Centurium Capital

Centurium is a leading private equity investment firm in China focused on investing in consumer, healthcare, and business services sectors. With a hands-on, operation centric “Invest to Transform” model, Centurium provides bespoke solutions to companies to unlock growth potential and promotes business transformation through technology and business innovation.

Beijing, February 11, 2022 – Centurium Capital, a leading private equity investment firm in China, today announced that it has become a signatory of the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), demonstrating the firm’s continuous commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues and initiatives.

Launched in 2006 by the former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, the PRI has become the world’s leading proponent of responsible investment. It works to support an international network of investor signatories in understanding the implications of ESG factors and integrating these factors into their investment practices and ownership policies.

Luo Nan, head of the PRI China, extended a warm welcome to Centurium Capital. “In signing up to PRI, Centurium Capital shows commitment to practicing responsible investment. It is an important step in its continued ESG practice. The development of responsible investment is now growing rapidly and we look forward to more investors joining the journey,” she said.

David Li, Chairman and CEO of Centurium Capital, commented, “We are excited to join the leading international network to help promote the awareness and adoption of ESG best practices in China. ESG forms an integral part of our value-creation and ‘invest to transform’ investment approach, and we look forward to the partnership with the PRI to further enhance our ESG practices and bring positive impacts to our portfolio companies.”

Centurium Capital was founded in 2017 with the investment thesis of “invest to transform”. It has grown to be a leading private equity investment firm in China and manages both RMB and US dollar funds. Centurium Capital primarily focuses on China’s consumer, business services and healthcare sectors.

In addition to integrating ESG factors into the whole investment process, Centurium Capital has established its ESG committee consisting of IC members and directors from various departments of the firm. The committee’s goal is to drive a holistic ESG strategy and governance framework and oversee ESG initiatives undertaken at Centurium and companies within its portfolio.

Centurium Capital offers ESG supports to its portfolio companies, such as providing ESG training and ESG management support, sharing of knowledge and best practices, and encouraging appropriate disclosure of ESG issues.

January 27, 2022, Beijing – Centurium Capital, a leading private equity investment firm in China, announced today that it has led a consortium to complete a transaction to purchase an aggregate of 383,425,748 Class A ordinary shares of Luckin Coffee (the “Company”) from certain sellers (the “Secondary Sale”). Other consortium members include IDG Capital and Ares SSG Capital Management.

The sellers are affiliates of and were formerly controlled by certain former management members of the Company and their families, and were ordered to be wound up and are currently in liquidation pursuant to an order of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands and pursuant to orders of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the High Court of Justice of the British Virgin Islands (the “BVI Court”). The joint liquidators appointed in respect of the sellers have exercised their statutory powers to enter into definitive documents to give effect to the Secondary Sale. On January 17, 2022, the BVI Court sanctioned transactions that form part of the Secondary Sale, as required by the securities purchase agreement that gave effect to the Secondary Sale.

The Board of Directors and joint provisional liquidators of Luckin Coffee have determined the Secondary Sale to be in the long-term best interest of the Company, and accordingly approved the transaction.

Upon the closing of the Secondary Sale and after taking account of its previous investments, Centurium Capital has become the controlling shareholder of Luckin Coffee, holding more than 50% of the voting interest of the Company.

Statement from Centurium Capital:

“We are committed to supporting our portfolio companies to build sustainable business models, robust and transparent corporate governance and responsible management systems, and we will continue to support Luckin’s long-term growth and development.”

Centurium Capital is a leading private equity investment firm in China, with primary focuses on China’s consumer, business services and healthcare sectors.

November 16, 2021, Hong Kong – The Centurium Capital-led privatization of leading plasma-based biopharmaceutical company China Biologic Products Holdings Inc. (“China Biologic” or the “Company”) was awarded “Deal of the Year – Large Cap” by Asia Venture Capital Journal (AVCJ) at its annual award ceremony on November 15 in Hong Kong.

A buyer consortium led by Centurium Capital first announced its indicative proposal to privatize the Nasdaq-listed China Biologic (Nasdaq: CBPO) on September 18, 2019. On November 19, 2020, the two sides had reached an agreement for the consortium to purchase the outstanding shares not already owned by the consortium members at US$120 per share, implying a valuation of US$4.76 billion for the Company. The consortium members also included CITIC Capital, Hillhouse Capital, Temasek and the management team. The privatization transaction was closed on April 20, 2021.

Zhixing Chen, Managing Director of Centurium Capital, commented, “It was a long journey for us to close the China Biologic transaction, which is one of the largest privatization deals in China’s healthcare space in recent years. I want to take this opportunity to thank our investors, our team and friends who supported us along the way. Going forward, we will continue to work closely with the management team at China Biologic and bring the Company to the next level.”

Centurium Capital first invested in China Biologic in August 2018. Founded in 2002, China Biologic Products is a leading fully integrated plasma-based biopharmaceutical company in China. The Company’s products are used as critical therapies during medical emergencies and for the prevention and treatment of life-threatening diseases and immune-deficiency related diseases. China Biologic is headquartered in Beijing and manufactures over 20 different dosage forms of plasma products.

China Biologic is also engaged in the sale of medical devices, primarily regenerative medical biomaterial products. The Company sells its products to hospitals, distributors and other healthcare facilities in China.

AVCJ has been the leading source of information on private equity and venture capital activities in Asia since its establishment in 1987. AVCJ presents annual awards across categories recognizing excellence in fundraising, investment, exits, responsible investment, and value creation.

Centurium Capital is a leading private equity investment firm in China and primarily focuses on investing in China’s consumer, business services and healthcare sectors. As a transformational capital provider with a focus on business model innovation and resolving structural deficiencies to unlock growth potential, Centurium pursues a hands-on and operations-centric investment approach to drive value creation and generate long term shareholder value.

November 10, 2021, Beijing, China – Meican (the “Company”), a leading Chinese SaaS-based group catering technology company, announced today that it has completed E-round financing of US$100 million invested by Centurium Capital, a leading private equity investment management firm in China. The financing is expected to enhance Meican’s capabilities and investments in product research and development, global customer acquisition, supply chain diversification, and human resources development.

Founded in 2011, Meican is China’s largest group catering solutions provider. The Company offers comprehensive catering solutions to corporate clients and their employees, including both on-premise and off-premise catering and SaaS solutions. It also offers SaaS solutions to traditional group dining players, including digital ordering, integrated payment processing, catering operation, corporate fee control, as well as reporting & analytics.

The Company’s clients include Bytedance, Alibaba, SF Express, China CITIC Bank, Pacific Insurance, SASAC, Peking University People’s Hospital and China Southwest Aviation University, and numerous others. Through its SaaS technology and innovative solutions, Meican has transformed and modernized the traditional group catering industry.

Statistics show that the group catering market in China exceeded RMB1.5 trillion in 2020, serving 670 million customers while growing at over 15 percent annually. However, the Chinese group catering industry is still very fragmented, with a CR10 (market share of top 10 players) of less than five percent in China, which is in sharp contrast with a CR10 of 60 to 80 percent in developed markets such as the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea. This demonstrates huge growth and consolidation potential.

Xiao Zhao, Co-founder and CEO of Meican, commented, “Thanks to increasing penetration of digitalization and demand for a better group catering experience, the industry is going through a profound transformation. We will continue to invest in the diversification and digitalization of our supply chain to further upgrade the overall industry infrastructure and solidify our market-leading position. With synergies from our core advantages in SaaS solutions and unique product offering, we are confident that Meican will accelerate its growth and expansion to further tap into the trillion-yuan group catering market.”

Gary Liu, Managing Director of Centurium Capital, commented, “Serving two huge markets of business services and catering, Meican has built a very unique business model and developed innovative solutions through years of hard work. We believe there is still a huge unmet demand from corporate clients and their employees for modern, standardized and diversified group catering services. Meican has grown significantly over the past several years, connected a large number of traditional catering service providers, and accumulated deep industry expertise. We are pleased to partner with Meican to support the Company’s expansion and help them to continue to upgrade their product and service offerings.”

Today, Meican’s products and services cover nearly 100 cities across China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Wuhan, and serve thousands of corporate customers and merchant partners.

Centurium Capital is a leading private equity investment firm in China and primarily focuses on investing in China’s consumer, business services and healthcare sectors. As a transformational capital provider with a focus on business model innovation and resolving structural deficiencies to unlock growth potential, Centurium pursues a hands-on and operations-centric investment approach to drive value creation and generate long term shareholder value.

March 30, 2021, Beijing – Yunxuetang (YXT), a China-based online corporate training services provider, has recently completed two series E rounds, E1+E2, within three months of each other, totaling $190 million. Venture capital firm Matrix Partners China led the series E2 tranche with additional contributions from Sequoia Capital China and Hundreds Capital.

The E1 round was closed in January 2021 and led by Tencent. Prior to this round, Yunxuetang received multiple rounds of financing from top-tier private equity managers such as Centurium Capital, YF Capital, SIG, Ximalaya, and Everest VC. After the completion the series E financing, Yunxuetang become a unicorn and best-funded corporate training service provider in the industry.

This round of financing will be used for AI technology and software product innovation, data center and IT center construction, content development and customer experience enhancement.

Corporate training has grown year over year, but it gained stronger growth momentum in 2020 due the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic resulted in an urgent need for digital transformation, and companies quickly shifted from offline training to online. As the largest and most comprehensive corporate training technology company in China, Yunxuetang has led the way in providing business digitalization solutions.

Yunxuetang, founded in 2011, offers end-to-end corporate training solutions including training infrastructure establishment, training materials development, training program maintenance, data analysis and vendor management to meet the increasing demands for more efficient staff training as Chinese companies grow and evolve.