GSR Capital announced the formation of a US$ 1 billion cornerstone fund, "GSR Go Global Fund", with Limited Partners from Chinese leading high-tech companies, Taiwan industrial group, and world renowned entrepreneurs. The aim is to invest and build a world-class lighting industry through global acquisitions of leading LED lighting assets. The fund has already been oversubscribed and agreements have been signed by anchor Limited Partners. Industry experts Frank Fan and Jianghua Su will join the core general partner team.

GSR Capital has extensive experience in investments within the entire value chain of LED lighting. As the industry is shifting from conventional lighting to LED technology, and the global manufacturing value chain has consolidated, several world leading lighting businesses, including Philips Lighting and Osram Lighting, have recently been put on the market for sale. "These types of buyout deal are a rare opportunity for China's solid state lighting industry, to not only accelerate its globalization process, but also to improve its R&D and manufacturing capabilities," said Baiyu Guan, General Secretary of China LED Industry and Application Association.

"M&A creates a synergistic effect by combining global distribution channels, consolidating supply chain, increasing capacity utilization, and achieving economies of scale. These impacts eventually all lead to a much-improved competitive position in the global LED lighting industry," added Ling Wu, Chairwoman of International Solid State Lighting Alliance, General Secretary of China Solid State Lighting Alliance.

GSR Capital is a leading participant in these buyout deals. GSR Capital's team has deep domain knowledge of the LED lighting industry in China and around the world. With the formation of the new cornerstone fund and through the acquisition of LED lighting assets, GSR Capital is confident that it will build world-class LED enterprises with its partners capable of transforming and reshaping the lighting industry. 

"To align with the supply-side reform strategy in China, it is important for China enterprises to invest in R&D, improve IP positions, build reputable brands, and set up stable global channels," remarked Sonny Wu, Founder and Managing Director of GSR Capital. "China offers not only a large and growing market, but also a great pool of R&D talent and a strong manufacturing base. We strongly believe there is a great opportunity to build the next leading LED lighting enterprise in China that will dramatically improve products and services, increase operational efficiency and significantly reduce overall cost. By doing so, we will accelerate the world's conversion to more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable lighting."