DNE Group’s joint venture with Bain Capital was the standout transaction to win the IJInvestor Award 2024 Award for Joint Venture of the year in APAC, due to the complex nature of the transaction.  

Infrastructure investor DNE, in October 2023, agreed to form a joint venture with private investment firm Bain Capital for “new economy infrastructure” with a total equity commitment of $250 million. The JV will develop and operate facilities and manufacturing parks in China’s core economic hubs, such as the Yangtze River Delta, and provide high-quality modern manufacturing infrastructure for the region’s new economy sector. 

Under the terms of the transaction, DNE will serve as the project manager and Bain will act as the strategic investor.  

One judge said the “JV targets a specific segment of the market and had to overcome difficulties and challenges.” 

Bain said it was interested in the JV as China is one of the most dynamic regions in APAC and it is interested in the business potential of China’s new economy sector, particularly the Yangtze River Delta.  

The JV built on an existing relationship with DNE. In 2019, Boston-based Bain invested $300 million in DNE’s wholly-owned subsidiary D&J China.  

The panel of independent judges said the deal was “innovative and complex” from both a legal and commercial perspective.  

To be sure, the innovation included the creation of a collaborative platform between a private equity investor and an asset manager to tap into the growing demand for modern industrial infrastructure in China. 

According to the submission, the JV used a flexible and efficient offshore corporate structure, with a mix of onshore seed assets and greenfield projects, to optimise the risk-return profile and the capital efficiency of the platform. 

It also includes a staged asset disposal process, which allows the parties to exit the joint venture platform in a flexible and orderly manner, by taking into account the portfolio at different stages based on the maturity and performance of the projects, and also includes a right of first offer (ROFO) opportunity for DNE. 

Advisers on the deal: 

• Kirkland & Ellis – legal
• A&O Shearman – legal