With three Asian investments in the bag before its first regional office opened for business, Saban Capital Group is looking to maintain that momentum through 2012 and 2013, ready to make deals ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars.

“We will continue to move very quickly,” says Sumeet Jaisinghani, who has relocated from Saban’s HQ in Los Angeles to lead its new Asian subsidiary in Hong Kong. “We realize time is of the essence when securing good opportunities."

Saban is targeting openings in traditional media, telecoms and digital media that will mirror Asia’s growth story as increasing affluence boosts consumer spending, adding to existing stakes in Indonesian media major MNC Group, regional pay-TV channel business Celestial Tiger Entertainment and Chinese online play Taomee.

All three deals were consummated in less than eight months, a pace Jaisinghani is keen to maintain as economic uncertainty elsewhere in the world heightens Asia’s investment appeal.

“We expect 2012 to be a busy year,” Jaisinghani adds, speaking in an interview with Media Business Asia.

“Right now in Asia, the private capital markets seem to be at an inflection point," he adds. "Private equity activity is becoming a more recognized source of funding, particularly in emerging economies where both public equity and public debt are not as developed as Western markets.”

The Asia playbook

Traditionally Saban Capital, the principal investment vehicle of US media mogul Haim Saban, has focused on taking controlling or co-control positions, with investments including US Hispanic specialist Univision, Israeli telco Bezeq and German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1. Through subsidiary Saban Brands, it also owns IP such as Paul Frank Industries and Power Rangers.

Saban’s playbook has become more flexible in Asia however, to broaden the scope of potential partners, pursuing growth equity and active minority investments as well as turnaround and restructuring plays.

The group already maintains a variety of positions through its current Asian portfolio: as an observer on Taomee’s board, a board seat at MNC and with multiple board seats at Celestial Tiger as the venture’s largest shareholder.

The investments also reflect different degrees of risk and opportunity.

MNC is well-placed to prosper as economic growth powers ad spend on free-to-air TV in Indonesia, ramping up investment in broadcast content to maximize its share of ratings and advertising.

Celestial Tiger, an Asian content and channels business forged at the end of last year by merging Tiger Gate Entertainment, a venture supported by Saban and Lionsgate, with the pay-TV channels business of Astro-backed Celestial Pictures, is positioned to ride rising pay-TV penetration in Asia and in the process assume greater scale.

Taking a stake in Taomee, which specializes in online entertainment for children, is a potentially lucrative but early-stage investment in China’s hyper-competitive online space.

Nonetheless, Jaisinghani stresses that these and future investments are long-term plays, which may also attract more capital from Saban in the future.

“We intend to be active in Asia for a long time to come, and are comfortable with longer investment horizons,” he says.

Entrepreneurial kinship

Specifically, Saban is eyeing free-to-air television, pay-TV distribution as well as channels, internet and digital media, and fixed line and mobile.

These include more developed markets such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan, as well as high-growth markets in China and Southeast Asia.

Investor attention on Asian media continues to rise, though Jaisinghani believes Saban’s entrepreneurial roots will play well in dynamic business environments where domestic companies are looking to expand, regionally and globally.

“We are unique in terms of our flexibility, entrepreneurial background and track record,” he says. “I think entrepreneurs in Asia look at us as different from traditional private equity firms.”