Andrew Tymms Partner and Co-Head of APAC Private Equity Practice BAIN & COMPANY

Andrew Tymms is the leader of Bain’s Asia-Pacific Private Equity practice.

He has more than 23 years’ experience with Bain across the UK, Europe, Africa and Australia, focused on supporting private equity and alternative investment firms across the investment value-chain.

His deep experience in all aspects of private equity and M&A include:

• Deal sourcing and screening
• Integrated (commercial and operational) due diligence
• Post-acquisition (growth and performance acceleration, developing and driving value creation plans (VCPs), post-merger integration (PMI)
• Exit planning and sell-side support
• PE and alternative investment firm strategy development

Andrew has led more than 300 commercial reviews, M&A and both post-acquisition and portfolio company projects for leading private equity investors and hedge funds.

He also holds significant industry experience in tech, media and telecom (TMT), financial services, business services, retail, healthcare and digital.

Andrew is an honors graduate of the University of Melbourne in electrical and electronic engineering.

Oliver Stratton Managing Director ALVAREZ & MARSAL ASIA

Oliver Stratton is a Managing Director for Alvarez & Marsal's Asian practice in Hong Kong. With 30 years of experience in consulting and private equity in Asia, his primary areas of concentration are business strategy, performance improvement, operational turnarounds and M&A. Mr. Stratton has worked with private equity and corporate clients across a range of industries including financial services, telecommunications, consumer goods and retail, industrial products and services, education, transportation and logistics and energy and resources.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Stratton spent 20 years with Bain & Company, including 10 years as a Partner. Mr. Stratton also spent two years as a Managing Director with Candover as part of its Asia leadership team.

In these roles Mr. Stratton has served many of the global, regional and major local country funds operating in Asia. Working with those clients, he has led operational and commercial due diligence and portfolio company performance improvement assignments across a range of industry sectors in Greater China, Korea and Southeast Asia.

Mr. Stratton earned an MA in engineering from Cambridge University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. A British national, Mr. Stratton has been based in Hong Kong since 1988.

Gaurav Sharma Head of Private Equity India INVESTCORP GROUP

Gaurav joined Investcorp when Investcorp Group acquired IDFC Alternatives in February 2019. He has over 26 years of experience both in the US and India across entrepreneurship, private equity, M&A, corporate finance and investment banking.

Gaurav was previously the co-founder of Prime Gourmet Private Limited. Prior to that, he held the role of Director of Providence Equity Partners’ India office. Gaurav was also part of the Investment banking team of Deutsche Bank and Wachovia Capital in New York -covering the Telecom and Media sectors. Gaurav started his career as the Founder and CEO of TrinayanaAuto -a manufacturer of auto components in India. His current and past board positions include FreshToHome, Zolo Stays, NephroPlus, ASG Eye Hospitals, Intergrow, UFO Moviezand MediAssistHealthcare

He holds a Master in Business Administration degree from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Chinta Bhagat Managing Partner, Asia L CATTERTON

Mr. Bhagat is a Managing Partner in the Asia Fund of L Catterton. In this role over the last three years, he has been responsible for driving the integration of the Asian franchise into the global firm, reshaping the strategy and focus of the firm in Asia, and leading marquee transactions in the region.

Prior to joining L Catterton, Mr. Bhagat was Head of Private Markets for South Asia and concurrently head of the global healthcare portfolio at Khazanah Nasional Berhad. Mr. Bhagat also spent 14 years at McKinsey & Company, including six years as Managing Partner of the Singapore office. He was a leader in the principal investor, healthcare and operations practices and worked extensively with private equity and sovereign wealth funds to develop strategies, execute transactions, manage risk, and implement board governance initiatives.

Mr. Bhagat received a degree in Architecture from the University of Mumbai and an M.B.A. in International Business from INSEAD.

Shane Lauf Principal PERMIRA

Shane is a Principal and leads the Portfolio Group in Asia for Permira, where his primary focus is on value creation and due diligence of new investment opportunities from a commercial and operational perspective. Shane has worked on a number of transactions including I-MED, Tricor, Topcast, and EF Kids & Teens. Prior to joining Permira in 2017, Shane worked for KKR Capstone for six years and previously worked with McKinsey and Company in Japan and Australia. Shane holds degrees in Computer Engineering and Japanese Language from the University of Wollongong, Australia, and has an MBA and MS from Stanford University, USA.

Chulmin Lee Managing Partner VIG PARTNERS

Chulmin Lee is a founding member of VIG Partners, where he joined in 2005. Mr. Lee worked as a Senior Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”) for five years, engaged in numerous post-merger integration, operational improvement, strategy development, commercial due diligence, and corporate restructuring projects. Mr. Lee managed most of BCG’s M&A and post-merger integration projects in Korea, including overseas strategic investments and cross-border post-merger integrations. Mr. Lee’s experience spans various industries, including industrial goods, financial services, consumer electronics, and telecommunications. Mr. Lee holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and graduated with a BS in Computer Science and Statistics from Seoul National University.

Yogesh Singh Partner & National Head of Corporate Practice Trilegal.

Yogesh Singh has an illustrious track record of advising clients on M&A, private equity, and corporate finance transactions. He has acted for international corporations, funds, and investors on several marque transactions. Yogesh actively advises foreign and Indian clients on structuring and corporate aspects of their India operations/investments, including compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and strategic employment matters. In the last seven years,
Yogesh has been intensely involved in distressed asset transactions including some first-of-their-kind restructurings/ settlements, fintech, technology, and Defence (contracting, offsets, investment, and policy) matters. In terms of sectors, Yogesh focuses on financial services, ecommerce, TMT, fintech, edutech, energy and infrastructure, manufacturing, real estate, Defence, and hospitality.
Yogesh has advised several international companies on their entry strategy and the Indian regulatory framework with Europe as a focused market. Given his involvement in cutting edge and complex transactions, he has been invited to make policy advocacy representations at various government interactions as well as to conduct trainings for senior judges and senior management of corporations.

CREDENTIALS
▪ Education: National Law Institute University
▪ Admissions: Member, Supreme Court of India and Solicitor England and Wales.

Gaurav Ahuja Partner CHRYSCAPITAL

Gaurav Ahuja is a Managing Director with ChrysCapital and has been with the firm since 2004.  He is responsible for the LP Relations and Fund Raising functions at ChrysCapital. Mr. Ahuja is a member of the Investment Committee and sits on the board of Infogain, ChrysCapital’s IT Services portfolio company.  Prior to joining ChrysCapital, he was in the M&A group at Lazard Freres in San Francisco and Merrill Lynch in New York.  

Mr. Ahuja received an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Economics from the University of Virginia.

Gopal Jain Managing Partner and Co-Founder GAJA CAPITAL

Gopal Jain is Managing Partner and Co-founder of Gaja Capital, an India-focused growth & buyout firm based in Mumbai. Founded in 2004, Gaja is a leading player in India’s private equity market with an exceptional track record of 24 investments and an AUM of over US$ 750 Mn. Gopal has been investing in Indian equities since the age of thirteen and has been a professional investor in the Indian capital markets for over 30 years. He is one of the more experienced private equity investors in India having led or co-led over 26 private equity investments since 1995. He is a graduate in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi.

Gopal is an active columnist and is currently member of Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee of Indian market regulator. He has a deep interest in the social sector and leads Gaja Gives which supports a wide and growing number of social efforts in India.

Anand S. Krishnan Managing Partner FIDELISWORLD

Anand Krishnan has 33 years of experience across Delhi, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Dubai in entrepreneurship, controllership, investment banking, and private equity. He was involved in sovereign restructurings in the late 80’s, Asian crisis restructuring in the late 90’s, and the late 2000’s global recession with emphasis on restructuring in the UAE. Anand has been integral to the value creation process at JP Morgan Chase and at Dubai International Capital. He has managed AUMs of over US$ 5 billion over a period of 10 years with significant experience in the full cycle of PE, and in a diversified space which includes aerospace, leisure, hotels, sports, medicine, and oil & gas.

He deployed proprietary capital in researching an investment strategy in the media & entertainment space, with a focus on the sports ecosystem, ultimately resulting in the formation of a specialist, differentiated investment strategy for value creation and risk reduction employed by FidelisWorld.

Anand has a BA in Business from Delhi University, India; an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, USA; and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, USA. He has been a participant in several leadership courses across JPMorgan and DIC in Asia and the US and was named a “Top Indian Leader in the Arab World” in 2015 by Forbes Middle East. Born and raised in India, Anand speaks English, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam.

Amit Gupta Partner TPG NEWQUEST

Amit Gupta is a founding Partner of TPG NewQuest based in Singapore and oversees the India and Southeast Asia businesses. Amit has more than 20 years of industry experience. 

Prior to co-founding TPG NewQuest, he was a Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s (BAML) Asia Private Equity group where he led the India business and oversaw investments in the energy and financial services sectors across the Asia Pacific region. Amit has also served in other roles in BAML, including Corporate Principal Investments based in Hong Kong and Investment Banking based in Mumbai. 

Prior to working at BAML, Amit was a software engineer based in Mumbai and the United States. Amit has an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, where he was placed on the Director’s Merit List for his performance, and an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from REC Kurukshetra, where he received the University gold medal. Amit is fluent in English and Hindi.

Lydia Hao Managing Director HARBOURVEST PARTNERS

Lydia Hao joined HarbourVest’s primary partnership team in 2021 as a Managing Director based in Hong Kong and focuses on Asia-Pacific investments.

She was previously a Principal in Neuberger Berman’s private equity team, where she led the firm’s primary funds, co-investments, and secondary investments in the Greater China region. Prior to joining Neuberger Berman in 2017, Lydia spent seven years at CPP Investment Board in Hong Kong as one of the founding members of the Private Equity Asia team, building its direct investment portfolio across the Asia-Pacific region. Previously, she was based in New York where she worked at Apax Partners focused on US private equity buyouts in the consumer and TMT sectors, and worked at UBS Investment Bank in the Mergers and Acquisitions group advising clients across various industries.

Lydia received a Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) in Hotel Administration, from Cornell University. She speaks fluent Mandarin.

Shinichiro Kita Representative Director/ Senior Partner ADVANTAGE PARTNERS

Mr. Kita joined Advantage Partners in 2003 and leads all activities for the Japan Buyout team. Mr. Kita has also directly led many investments including CommunityOne, Katitas, Net Protections, Yaruki Switch Group and Cosmolife. He currently serves as a Director on several investments including Material Group,  Energywith, NFC Holdings, Net Japan and Daiho Industrial.

Prior to joining Advantage Partners, Mr. Kita was at Bain & Company Japan and focused on projects in the auto, finance, telecommunications, food products, trading houses, and healthcare sectors. Mr. Kita holds an undergraduate degree from the Faculty of Economics, the University of Tokyo, and an MBA from University of California, Berkeley.

Eiji Yatagawa Partner, Private Equity KKR

Eiji Yatagawa (Tokyo) joined KKR in 2006 and is a Partner on the Private Equity team. He is on the Board of Directors of PHC Holdings (formerly Panasonic Healthcare), Koki Holdings (formerly Hitachi Koki), Seiyu Holdings, dataX (formerly From Scratch), NETSTARS, Transphorm, and Yayoi. Mr. Yatagawa was also previously involved with KKR’s investments in Unisteel (Singapore), Intelligence, AlphaTheta (formerly Pioneer DJ), Marelli Holdings (formerly Calsonic Kansei), and Kokusai Electric (formerly Hitachi Kokusai Electric). From 2010 to 2012, he worked in KKR's Hong Kong office. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Yatagawa was with Goldman Sachs & Co.'s investment banking team, based in New York and Tokyo, where he focused on the telecommunications, media, and technology sector and was involved in a number of mergers and acquisitions as well as financing projects. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. from the University of Tokyo.

Mark Chiba Group Chairman & Partner THE LONGREACH GROUP

Mark Chiba is Group Chairman and Partner of The Longreach Group. The Longreach Group is an established independent private equity firm with offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo. The firm focuses on Japan and related Greater China control buyouts in the mature industrial and technology, consumer, business services and financial services sectors. The firm manages three Funds which have accumulated approximately US$2.1 billion of committed limited partner and co-investment capital.

Mark co-founded The Longreach Group in late 2003. Mark's lead responsibilities at Longreach include firm management, senior relationship driven deal sourcing and execution, investments in the financial services sector, and building the firm's capital base and global networks.

Before co-founding Longreach, Mark served as Chief Executive Officer and President of UBS Securities Japan, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Investment Banking Management Committee, Head of Japan Investment Banking and as a member of the UBS Global Investment Bank Board. Previous to this role in Japan, Mark headed the UBS Asia-Pacific Financial Institutions Group.

Mark is an Australian citizen, resident in Hong Kong. He holds First Class Honours degrees in Economics (University of Melbourne) and Law (University of Sydney). Mark is a Rhodes Scholar with a Master of Philosophy degree in International Relations (with Distinction) from Oxford University.

T.J. Kono Partner UNISON CAPITAL

T.J. Kono joined Unison Capital in 2002. He has managed a number of investments in Japan since Unison’s first fund, then led Unison’s expansion to Korea as its founding member. Today, he serves as a member of both Japan and Korea Investment Committee. He has been involved in Unison’s investments in Drug Eleven (Japan), Mine-Mart (Japan), UCOM (Japan), Nexcon Technology (Korea), Gong cha (Korea)/Royal Tea Taiwan (Taiwan), and Forbes (Japan). In addition to investment role, he oversees Unison Group’s investor relations functions. Prior to Unison Capital, he worked at Merrill Lynch Japan.

Mr. Kono has a B.S/B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.

Alex Boulton Partner BAIN & COMPANY

Alex is a member of Bain & Company’s Private Equity and Healthcare practices.

Since joining Bain in 2010, Alex has led numerous investment strategy, commercial due diligence and portfolio value creation initiatives across sectors, with a client portfolio that encompasses growth and buyout funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, infrastructure funds and asset management firms.

He has extensive experience across the Asia-Pacific healthcare sector and is deeply versed in mergers & acquisitions (M&A), full potential strategy and performance improvement.

He holds a BSc in economics, with First-Class Honours, from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Ling Yang Managing Director CARLYLE

Ling Yang is a Managing Director at Carlyle. She is co-head of Carlyle Asia Healthcare and is primarily responsible for Carlyle’s healthcare investment and portfolio activities in China. Ms. Yang began her career at Carlyle focusing on healthcare for the U.S. Buyout group and joined Carlyle Asia in 2011. Since joining Carlyle Asia, Ms. Yang has led investments into leading healthcare companies in China including Hutchmed, Adicon Clinical Laboratories, Ambiopharm, Microport Scientific Corporation, Meinian Onehealth, and Shenzhen Salubris Pharmaceuticals. She chairs the board of Adicon Clinical Laboratories and is a member of the boards of Ambiopharm and Shenzhen Salubris.

Prior to Carlyle Asia, Ms. Yang worked in private equity at KKR in Asia and in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in the U.S.

Ms. Yang graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics and computer science from Smith College and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Dr Lincoln Chee Managing Director CBC GROUP

Dr Lincoln Chee has over 25 years of experience as a surgeon, executive and investor. Prior to joining CBC he was the Greater China CEO of Parkway Pantai, overseeing three hospitals and six medical centers in Shanghai and Chengdu. Dr Chee was also previously Managing Director at Vertex Ventures, a venture subsidiary of Temasek Holdings with investments and exits in biotech, medtech and services.

Past career appointments include: CEO and board member of Quality Healthcare Asia, Technical Advisor and Reviewer of Singapore’s Central Gap Fund for biomedical innovation, Operating Partner and Advisor to Advent International and Lionrock PE funds, as well as a board member of listed companies in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Dr Chee received his medical degree from National University of Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Singapore. He also attended Executive Education in Finance and Business from Ross School of Business and Harvard Business School.

Charles-Antoine Janssen Co-founder & Managing Partner HEALTHQUAD

Charles-A. Janssen is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of HealthQuad. He is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of HealthQuad. He has over 25 years of experience in healthcare, private equity and corporate finance advisory. He is currently a board member of UCB S.A, Tubize S.A, Medikabazaar, Qure.ai, Wysa, Regency Healthcare, OVUM, Lilac Insights, THB, Neurosynaptic Communications. He has earlier served as a board member of OPPI, IBLCCI and FOPI. In 2010, Charles cofounded KOIS S.A. with François de Borchgrave, a global impact investing firm (blended finance structuring and investment management) active in healthcare, education/skilling and living environments. Previously, he has worked at Merrill Lynch, Web Lab, and UCB S.A. He graduated from Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels with a bachelor’s in law, completed the Advanced Management Programme at the Harvard Business School and the International Directors Program with Certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD.

Amit Varma Co-Founder and Managing Partner QUADRIA CAPITAL

Dr. Amit Varma is a critical care physician having practiced for almost 30 years in the United States and Asia. He has been on the founding team of large Asian healthcare companies like Narayana Hrudayalaya and Fortis healthcare. He has served on the board of various companies around asia in healthcare delivery, life sciences, medical tech and consumer healthcare including Parkway healthcare in Singapore. He currently co-manages Quadria Capital the largest healthcare focused private equity firm with almost 2 Billion USD in AUM. In addition he has sponsored a dedicated venture healthcare firm HealthQuad with a 200 million USD AUM to work with start ups and early stage companies. He continues to be involved in academics and research and works hard to demystify problems in healthcare.

Dr. Varma is currently the founding managing co-founder of Quadria capital one of the largest healthcare dedicated private equity funds in Asia.

Paul Schrecongost Portfolio Manager ALLIANZ GLOBAL INVESTORS

Paul is a Portfolio Manager with Allianz Global Investors’ Asia Private Credit team. He has over two decades of private credit experience – 16 years of which have been in Asia. Prior to joining AllianzGI, Paul was Head of Structured Lending & Special Situations Legal at Nomura. Paul holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, a M.A. from Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Foreign Service and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Matthew Michelini Head of Asia-Pacific APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

Matthew Michelini is Partner, Head of Asia-Pacific at Apollo and a member of the Firm’s Leadership Team. Matt joined Apollo in 2006 in Private Equity and has played a pivotal role in the creation and success of many of Apollo’s largest growth initiatives, including Athene, Hybrid Value, Apollo Dedicated Insurance Program, Natural Resources, and the development of the Financials Group. Matt serves as Investment Chair for Apollo’s Hybrid Value business and on the board of directors of Athene Holding Ltd. and Venerable Holdings, and previously served on the boards of Aleris Corporation, Metals USA, Noranda Aluminum, One Main Financial, and Warrior Met Coal. Previously, Matt was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Lazard Frères & Co.

John Knox Partner, Head of Ares Australia & New Zealand ARES

Mr. Knox is a Partner and Head of Australia and New Zealand at Ares, where he is primarily responsible for driving business expansion opportunities across Australia and New Zealand. Prior to joining Ares in 2020, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Australia, where he oversaw all of Credit Suisse Australia's businesses, including investment banking, private banking, equities, asset finance, fixed income, debt financing and shared services. Mr. Knox was also a member of the Credit Suisse APAC Operating Committee. Previously, Mr. Knox served as Head and Co-Head of Credit Suisse's Investment Banking Teams in Australia, where he led and originated many investment banking transactions across all industries. Mr. Knox served as Chairman of the Australian Financial Markets Association from 2016 to 2019. He is currently Chairman of Cricket NSW, the body responsible for running cricket in Australia's most populous state. Mr. Knox holds a B.Com. (Hons) from the University of Melbourne in Economics

Jeffrey Lau CIO of Private Credit & Special Situations, Partner PRIMAVERA CAPITAL GROUP

Jeffrey is Head and CIO of Credit Investments at Primavera Capital Group, and chairs the firm’s Credit Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Primavera, Jeffrey led and managed private investments in partnership with leading sovereign wealth funds, corporates and family offices. He was an investor and director of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group between 2012 and 2017. Previously, Jeffrey oversaw special situations, structured credit and equity investments in Greater China for Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. Prior to Och-Ziff, Jeffrey worked at The Blackstone Group in New York, and in the Mergers, Acquisitions and Restructuring Department at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, Los Angeles and New York.

Jeffrey earned his AB in Social Studies from Harvard University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude and as a John Harvard Scholar. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Christopher Mikosh Portfolio Manager and Co-Founder TOR INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT (HONG KONG) LIMITED

Chris Mikosh is the Portfolio Manager and Co-Founder of Tor Investment Management, a leading independent alternative credit manager in Asia with over $2.4 billion under management. Chris has over 25 years of direct credit investing and trading experience. Prior to Tor, he was Managing Director and Head Trader of the Asian Special Situations Group (ASSG) at Goldman Sachs (2000–2012). During his tenure, Chris was responsible for managing, sourcing, trading, and hedging a multi-asset class portfolio that averaged $3 billion. While at Goldman, Chris sat on the Asia Risk Committee and the Board of Goldman Sachs (Asia) Finance, the firm’s main investing entity in the region. Chris also sat on the Liquid Investing Committee for Non-Japan Asia, the Liquid Investing Committee for Japan, and the Illiquid Investing Committee in the US. Prior to Goldman, Chris spent four years at Lazard Frères as a desk analyst and then as Head Trader of the distressed and high-yield debt desk. Prior to that, he spent two years as a banker in Chase Securities’ high-yield origination group. Chris earned a dual degree BS in Finance and Computer Science/Management Information Systems from Boston College in 1994. He is a member of the board of the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation in Hong Kong.

Tanu Pandey Senior Reporter INFRALOGIC

Tanu is a Senior Reporter at Infralogic and responsible for the coverage of power/energy sector in Asia for the news and intelligence platform. Based in Singapore, she reports on project financing, fundraising, mergers and acquisitions and writes in-depth news  analysis on the Asian power space amid an ongoing transformation. Before joining the company in 2019, she covered the Private Equity and Sovereign Wealth Funds in Asia for three years and prior to that, she spent a decade as a financial journalist across Malaysia and India. She holds a graduate degree in Commerce & Business Studies from the University of Delhi and MA in Business Journalism. 

Thomas Walenta Senior Investment Officer ASIAN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT BANK (AIIB)

Thomas is Senior Investment Officer at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral financial institution with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia by investing in sustainable infrastructure and other productive sectors. At AIIB, Thomas is responsible for originating, structuring and executing innovative, developmental and profitable debt and equity transactions, including fund investments, across all infrastructure sectors in Asia.

Prior to AIIB, he was an adviser to the German Federal Ministry of Finance to support the establishment of AIIB and advise the German Chief Negotiator on AIIB’s institutional, operational and financial policy framework. Earlier in his career, Thomas worked at KfW Development Bank, where he was responsible for managing equity investments and structuring loans for infrastructure projects in developing countries and emerging markets in Asia, including managing a EUR450-million p.a. infrastructure investment program for China.

Thomas earned a BBA and M.Sc. in International Business Administration from European University Viadrina, Germany and an MBA from Catholic University of Cordoba, Argentina. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Nicole Goh Head, Infrastructure Asia ex-China GIC

Nicole Goh joined GIC Infrastructure in 2008. As Head, Infrastructure Asia ex-China, she has investment coverage responsibility for opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, with prior experience investing in the US and Europe. She represents GIC Infrastructure on the boards of its portfolio companies in the region.

Nicole has a BSc in Mathematics with Statistics for Finance from Imperial College London, and an MSc in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

Dr. Valerie Speth Managing Director, Climate Infrastructure Group, Asia Pacific BLACKROCK

Dr. Valerie Speth is the Co-Lead APAC for the Climate Infrastructure Group which invests and manages investments and portfolio companies of the Global Renewable Power Fund 3 (4.8 Billion USD) and the Climate Finance Partnership (673 Mio. USD). As a qualified mechanical engineer, she brings more than 15 years’ of experience in the renewable power sector in Europe and APAC. Prior to joining BlackRock, she was the CEO of a global wind and solar developer for APAC and hold senior leadership positions in strategy, M&A and portfolio management. Valerie was placed in the “Top 40 under 40” in 2019, 2020 and 2021 by the Capital business magazine in Germany.

Valerie holds an engineering diploma from University of Stuttgart, a Master of Engineering Management as a Fulbright Scholar from Duke University, a PhD in Business from St. Gallen University, a Personal Leadership Certificate from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an International Director Certificate from INSEAD.

Brenda Lau Director, Private Equity Product Specialist IFM INVESTORS

Brenda Lau is the Director, Private Equity Product Specialist at IFM Investors, based in the Sydney office. She is responsible for managing client relationships, and building and deepening technical knowledge across investors and consultants globally.

Prior to this role, Brenda was the Head of Asset Management Asia, Private Markets & Alternatives at CA Indosuez (Switzerland) SA, which is part of the Credit Agricole group, based in Hong Kong. She was responsible for managing all Asia Pacific private markets investments as well as advising on the allocation of strategies for the private clients’ portfolios globally. Previously, she held senior relationship management and business development roles at EntrustPermal and Hamilton Lane, where she covered institutional clients including sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, provident funds, and private banking clients in the Asia Pacific region.

Brenda holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance and Management of Organizations from the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. She is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and a member of the CAIA Association.

Stephen Bates Partner, Head of Financial Services ASPAC, Deal Advisory, Singapore KPMG

Stephen leads financial services deal advisory in Singapore and Indonesia and has over 20 years experience in providing advice to clients on their transactions across Europe, the US and in the Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Singapore from London, Stephen led the deal advisory banking capital markets and consumer lending sectors and spent five years building the Financial Services transaction advisory business in Switzerland.

Stephen has significant experience leading transactions in Fintech, Banking, Insurance and Investment management providing advice to clients on M&A including target search, acquisition due diligence, refinancing, vendor assistance and vendor due diligence.

Professional and industry experience 

Advised Altimeter Growth Corp on the largest SPAC merger with Southeast Asia’s super app Grab Holdings Inc

Advised a consortium led by Singapore Life and TPG Capital on the acquisition of Aviva Singapore

Advised a Global bank on its proposed acquisition of Citi Group’s consumer business portfolio across Asia

Advised Allianz Global Investors on its acquisition of PT RHB Asset Management Indonesia from RHB Bank

Advised a confidential PE on its proposed investment in GoTo

Advised SoftBank Ventures on its investment in an e-wallet business in South Korea

Advised a confidential client on its proposed SPAC merger with a financial product comparison platform in Asia

Advised Warburg Pincus on its acquisition of ABDA and ABDA Assistance in Indonesia from Mapfre Insurance Group

Advised Eight Roads on their Series B investment in StashAway

Advised a global VC on its potential investment in a Singapore based robo-advisor

Advised on Ant Financial’s acquisition of HelloPay in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia

Advised Warburg Pincus on their investment in Techcombank

Advised a large global private equity firm on their proposed investment into a new Buku 3 bank which was being planned based on a merger between 2 Buku 2 banks in Indonesia

Advised a Middle Eastern bank on a potential investment into a Buku 3 bank in Indonesia

Christina Bao Managing Director, Co-Head of Sales & Marketing HKEX

Ms Christina Bao, Managing Director, is currently the Co-Head of Sales & Marketing at HKEX. 

Ms Bao joined HKEX in 2016 as the Chief of Staff, reporting to the CE of HKEX. She was responsible for the planning and oversight of the Group’s strategic projects.

Prior to joining HKEX, Christina held a number of senior positions at Ping An Bank (previously at Shenzhen Development Bank, which merged with Ping An Bank in 2010) since 2001. At Shenzhen Development Bank, she served as the Chief of Staff to the Chairman and CEO from 2005 until 2010, and was responsible for the bank’s strategic projects, Investor Relations and Public Relations. After the merger and integration of the two banks, she headed Retail e-Banking, Service & Marketing, and the Retail e-Finance Strategic Business Unit for Ping An Bank.

Ms Bao received her Master of Business Administration (Finance, General) from the Peking University of Mainland China.

Andrew Hawkyard Chief Investment Officer MORGAN STANLEY PRIVATE EQUITY ASIA

Andrew is the Chief Investment Officer of MSPE Asia and a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley. Mr. Hawkyard joined the Firm in 1999 and has been investing in Asia private equity for 23 years, including 22 years managing MSPE Asia’s five private equity funds to date: MSGEM (1999), Fund II (2005), Fund III (2007), Fund IV (2013) and Fund V (2018). Mr. Hawkyard currently leads the group’s private equity activities in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, and prior to that he played a lead role in establishing MSPE Asia’s private equity business in South Korea. Mr Hawkyard is also leading the establishment and oversight of the Thailand private equity business and is a member of the Thai Fund Investment Committee. Mr. Hawkyard is a director of Microlife and was previously a director of ACR, Landmark, Jinbang and CTCI and an observer to the boards of Itest and eAccess. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Hawkyard worked in the Merchant Banking and Investment Banking divisions of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette in Hong Kong and New York. Mr. Hawkyard is a native of New Zealand and is based in Hong Kong. Mr. Hawkyard received a B.A. with First Class Honors in applied mathematics and a B.C.A. in finance from Victoria University.

Tony Duthie Managing Director, Buyouts and Secure Assets PACIFIC EQUITY PARTNERS

Tony joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2006. Before joining PEP, Tony was a Partner of Bain & Company with over 12 years of consulting experience in Australia, Asia and Europe. Tony received an MBA from INSEAD (Dean’s List) and a BCom from the University of New South Wales.

Sumit Punwani Partner, Corporate Finance, Deal Advisory KPMG

Sumit has more than 20 years of experience in providing M&A advisory services including acquisitions and divestments, capital advisory, strategic and financial advice and project management in multiple financial hubs across Europe and Asia including United Kingdom, Singapore, Indonesia and India. He has significant cross-border experience advising some of the leading MNCs, PEs and SMEs with principal experience on transactions within the Technology, Media, Consumer, Logistics and Financial Services verticals.

Areas of expertise

Mergers and Acquisitions, Capital Raising, Start-up Funding

Educations and Qualifications

• Master of Business Administration – Nanyang Business School, Singapore / ESSEC, France
• Bachelor of Commerce – University of Mumbai, India
• Chartered Accountant, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

Rishi Dua Associate Portfolio Manager AWARE SUPER

Rishi joined the Aware Super Private Equity team in 2019. His experience includes manager research, co-investment assessment, portfolio analysis and investment strategy development. Aware Super is one of Australia's largest superannuation (pension) funds, with more than $150bn in funds under management. Prior to Aware Super, Rishi worked in the Private Equity team at the Future Fund, where he helped manage its private equity portfolio. Rishi started his career in the Corporate Finance team at KPMG primarily focussed on Mergers and Acquisitions. He holds a Bachelor of Laws and Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Chartered Accounting.

Dovaldas Buzinskas Senior Director, Private Equity CDPQ

Dovaldas is a Senior Director, Private Equity at CDPQ, a global investment group with CAD 424 billion in assets under management. Based in Singapore, he covers direct investments in Asia-Pacific with a strong focus on the technology and health care segments.

Dovaldas joined CDPQ in 2017 and has over 10 years of experience in Private Equity and M&A.

Previously, Dovaldas worked at Antin Infrastructure Partners, a leading Private Equity firm focusing on infrastructure investments with over €15 billion assets under management. He started his career at Goldman Sachs in Paris, in the Investment Banking division covering France and Benelux. 

Dovaldas holds a Master in Finance from HEC Paris and currently sits on the Boards of Directors of Druva, PharmEasy, Healthscope and CleverTap.

David Ye Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO RONG360

David Ye is an entrepreneur and investor with 25 years of experience in Internet, Financial Technology and banking in the United States, China, South East Asia and other emerging markets. He is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Rong360, a leading independent and open platform for discovery and recommendation of financial products in China and South East Asia. Before founding Rong360 in 2011, he had leadership roles with PayPal, American Express, Capital One and America Online in the U.S. and China.

He sits on the advisory board of the Stanford University Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He is a mentor of Tsinghua University PBoC School of Finance (PBCSF) Global Entrepreneur Leadership Program. David was awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year” by The Founder in 2015.

David received a BS in Engineering from Hunan University, a Master of Science in Finance from the George Washington University and an EMBA at the PBoC School of Finance, Tsinghua University.

David is an avid endurance sports athlete, having successfully completed major marathons and Ironman triathlon events in Asia and the U.S.

Ethan Koh Asia Research Director GPCA

Ethan Koh is the Asia Research Director at GPCA, where he manages the overall Asia data and leads the production of all Asia-related research reports and presentations. Ethan is also responsible for communicating key findings and themes to members and presenting GPCA research results at conferences and events. With a dual role as the Head of the Asia Headquarters based in Singapore, Ethan supports GPCA’s broader programming and advocacy efforts in the region.

With over a decade of experience, Ethan held managerial positions in Singapore and Hong Kong, delivering strategic values to corporate decision-makers and global institutional clients. Prior to joining GPCA, Ethan was Senior Manager for Real Capital Analytics, where he led the firm’s research efforts in Asia Pacific. Before that, he was Senior Investment Writer for Partners Group and Research Manager for PEI Media.

Herbert Suen Head of Private Wealth Solutions Asia BLACKSTONE

Herbert Suen is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Wealth Solutions group and is based in Singapore.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Suen worked at Barclays Wealth as Head of Managed Products in Asia. Prior to Barclays, Mr. Suen worked at Credit Suisse overseeing Fund-based advisory portfolio solutions for private wealth clients. Before that he also worked at Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Bank, Franklin Templeton and Mitsubishi Corporation in various capacities including financial engineering and business development.

Mr. Suen received a Master of Science (with Distinction) in Mathematics for Finance & Actuarial Science jointly from Paris Dauphine University and City University of Hong Kong. He graduated from Curtin University of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Arts (with Distinction) in Asian Studies. He is a CFA charter holder and a certified FRM. He speaks fluent English, Cantonese, Japanese and Mandarin.

Edwin Chan Managing Director, Head of Client Solutions, Asia iCAPITAL

Edwin Chan joined iCapital in 2021 as Head of Asia and Head of Client Solutions APAC. He has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, including a strong track record in private markets in the Asia Pacific region.

Before joining iCapital, Edwin successfully founded and spent a decade building the Probitas Partners business in Asia. He has worked with many private market firms across different alternative investment strategies as well as with institutional and family office investors in the Asia Pacific region. Previously, Edwin worked with AIG Global Investments, Citi, and HSBC based out of Hong Kong in various regional roles covering clients across the broad Asian geography.

He holds a MBA and a BA from the University of South Australia and is a Certified Practicing Accountant of CPA Australia.

Patrick Sixsmith Managing Principal, Private Markets HSBC ALTERNATIVES

Patrick Sixsmith is a Managing Principal in the HAIL Private Markets team and a member of HSBC Alternatives’ Investment Committee. He has a particular focus on managing and expanding the business’ co-investment vertical. He also leads the team’s coverage for North America, Asia, as well as Venture Capital. He started his career in HSBC’s Investment Banking division in 2005 before joining HSBC’s Principal Investments team in 2007, helping to create the team that focused on lower mid-market direct buyouts, becoming a Managing Director and running its direct Private Equity investment programme in UK & Europe and, later, Asia. Patrick represents and has represented HSBC on numerous Company Boards. 

Andrew Tymms Partner and Co-Head of APAC Private Equity Practice BAIN & COMPANY

Andrew Tymms is the leader of Bain’s Asia-Pacific Private Equity practice.

He has more than 23 years’ experience with Bain across the UK, Europe, Africa and Australia, focused on supporting private equity and alternative investment firms across the investment value-chain.

His deep experience in all aspects of private equity and M&A include:

• Deal sourcing and screening
• Integrated (commercial and operational) due diligence
• Post-acquisition (growth and performance acceleration, developing and driving value creation plans (VCPs), post-merger integration (PMI)
• Exit planning and sell-side support
• PE and alternative investment firm strategy development

Andrew has led more than 300 commercial reviews, M&A and both post-acquisition and portfolio company projects for leading private equity investors and hedge funds.

He also holds significant industry experience in tech, media and telecom (TMT), financial services, business services, retail, healthcare and digital.

Andrew is an honors graduate of the University of Melbourne in electrical and electronic engineering.

Oliver Stratton Managing Director ALVAREZ & MARSAL ASIA

Oliver Stratton is a Managing Director for Alvarez & Marsal's Asian practice in Hong Kong. With 30 years of experience in consulting and private equity in Asia, his primary areas of concentration are business strategy, performance improvement, operational turnarounds and M&A. Mr. Stratton has worked with private equity and corporate clients across a range of industries including financial services, telecommunications, consumer goods and retail, industrial products and services, education, transportation and logistics and energy and resources.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Stratton spent 20 years with Bain & Company, including 10 years as a Partner. Mr. Stratton also spent two years as a Managing Director with Candover as part of its Asia leadership team.

In these roles Mr. Stratton has served many of the global, regional and major local country funds operating in Asia. Working with those clients, he has led operational and commercial due diligence and portfolio company performance improvement assignments across a range of industry sectors in Greater China, Korea and Southeast Asia.

Mr. Stratton earned an MA in engineering from Cambridge University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. A British national, Mr. Stratton has been based in Hong Kong since 1988.

Gaurav Sharma Head of Private Equity India INVESTCORP GROUP

Gaurav joined Investcorp when Investcorp Group acquired IDFC Alternatives in February 2019. He has over 26 years of experience both in the US and India across entrepreneurship, private equity, M&A, corporate finance and investment banking.

Gaurav was previously the co-founder of Prime Gourmet Private Limited. Prior to that, he held the role of Director of Providence Equity Partners’ India office. Gaurav was also part of the Investment banking team of Deutsche Bank and Wachovia Capital in New York -covering the Telecom and Media sectors. Gaurav started his career as the Founder and CEO of TrinayanaAuto -a manufacturer of auto components in India. His current and past board positions include FreshToHome, Zolo Stays, NephroPlus, ASG Eye Hospitals, Intergrow, UFO Moviezand MediAssistHealthcare

He holds a Master in Business Administration degree from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Chinta Bhagat Managing Partner, Asia L CATTERTON

Mr. Bhagat is a Managing Partner in the Asia Fund of L Catterton. In this role over the last three years, he has been responsible for driving the integration of the Asian franchise into the global firm, reshaping the strategy and focus of the firm in Asia, and leading marquee transactions in the region.

Prior to joining L Catterton, Mr. Bhagat was Head of Private Markets for South Asia and concurrently head of the global healthcare portfolio at Khazanah Nasional Berhad. Mr. Bhagat also spent 14 years at McKinsey & Company, including six years as Managing Partner of the Singapore office. He was a leader in the principal investor, healthcare and operations practices and worked extensively with private equity and sovereign wealth funds to develop strategies, execute transactions, manage risk, and implement board governance initiatives.

Mr. Bhagat received a degree in Architecture from the University of Mumbai and an M.B.A. in International Business from INSEAD.

Shane Lauf Principal PERMIRA

Shane is a Principal and leads the Portfolio Group in Asia for Permira, where his primary focus is on value creation and due diligence of new investment opportunities from a commercial and operational perspective. Shane has worked on a number of transactions including I-MED, Tricor, Topcast, and EF Kids & Teens. Prior to joining Permira in 2017, Shane worked for KKR Capstone for six years and previously worked with McKinsey and Company in Japan and Australia. Shane holds degrees in Computer Engineering and Japanese Language from the University of Wollongong, Australia, and has an MBA and MS from Stanford University, USA.

Chulmin Lee Managing Partner VIG PARTNERS

Chulmin Lee is a founding member of VIG Partners, where he joined in 2005. Mr. Lee worked as a Senior Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”) for five years, engaged in numerous post-merger integration, operational improvement, strategy development, commercial due diligence, and corporate restructuring projects. Mr. Lee managed most of BCG’s M&A and post-merger integration projects in Korea, including overseas strategic investments and cross-border post-merger integrations. Mr. Lee’s experience spans various industries, including industrial goods, financial services, consumer electronics, and telecommunications. Mr. Lee holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and graduated with a BS in Computer Science and Statistics from Seoul National University.

Yogesh Singh Partner & National Head of Corporate Practice Trilegal.

Yogesh Singh has an illustrious track record of advising clients on M&A, private equity, and corporate finance transactions. He has acted for international corporations, funds, and investors on several marque transactions. Yogesh actively advises foreign and Indian clients on structuring and corporate aspects of their India operations/investments, including compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and strategic employment matters. In the last seven years,
Yogesh has been intensely involved in distressed asset transactions including some first-of-their-kind restructurings/ settlements, fintech, technology, and Defence (contracting, offsets, investment, and policy) matters. In terms of sectors, Yogesh focuses on financial services, ecommerce, TMT, fintech, edutech, energy and infrastructure, manufacturing, real estate, Defence, and hospitality.
Yogesh has advised several international companies on their entry strategy and the Indian regulatory framework with Europe as a focused market. Given his involvement in cutting edge and complex transactions, he has been invited to make policy advocacy representations at various government interactions as well as to conduct trainings for senior judges and senior management of corporations.

CREDENTIALS
▪ Education: National Law Institute University
▪ Admissions: Member, Supreme Court of India and Solicitor England and Wales.

Gaurav Ahuja Partner CHRYSCAPITAL

Gaurav Ahuja is a Managing Director with ChrysCapital and has been with the firm since 2004.  He is responsible for the LP Relations and Fund Raising functions at ChrysCapital. Mr. Ahuja is a member of the Investment Committee and sits on the board of Infogain, ChrysCapital’s IT Services portfolio company.  Prior to joining ChrysCapital, he was in the M&A group at Lazard Freres in San Francisco and Merrill Lynch in New York.  

Mr. Ahuja received an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Economics from the University of Virginia.

Gopal Jain Managing Partner and Co-Founder GAJA CAPITAL

Gopal Jain is Managing Partner and Co-founder of Gaja Capital, an India-focused growth & buyout firm based in Mumbai. Founded in 2004, Gaja is a leading player in India’s private equity market with an exceptional track record of 24 investments and an AUM of over US$ 750 Mn. Gopal has been investing in Indian equities since the age of thirteen and has been a professional investor in the Indian capital markets for over 30 years. He is one of the more experienced private equity investors in India having led or co-led over 26 private equity investments since 1995. He is a graduate in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi.

Gopal is an active columnist and is currently member of Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee of Indian market regulator. He has a deep interest in the social sector and leads Gaja Gives which supports a wide and growing number of social efforts in India.

Anand S. Krishnan Managing Partner FIDELISWORLD

Anand Krishnan has 33 years of experience across Delhi, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Dubai in entrepreneurship, controllership, investment banking, and private equity. He was involved in sovereign restructurings in the late 80’s, Asian crisis restructuring in the late 90’s, and the late 2000’s global recession with emphasis on restructuring in the UAE. Anand has been integral to the value creation process at JP Morgan Chase and at Dubai International Capital. He has managed AUMs of over US$ 5 billion over a period of 10 years with significant experience in the full cycle of PE, and in a diversified space which includes aerospace, leisure, hotels, sports, medicine, and oil & gas.

He deployed proprietary capital in researching an investment strategy in the media & entertainment space, with a focus on the sports ecosystem, ultimately resulting in the formation of a specialist, differentiated investment strategy for value creation and risk reduction employed by FidelisWorld.

Anand has a BA in Business from Delhi University, India; an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, USA; and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, USA. He has been a participant in several leadership courses across JPMorgan and DIC in Asia and the US and was named a “Top Indian Leader in the Arab World” in 2015 by Forbes Middle East. Born and raised in India, Anand speaks English, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam.

Amit Gupta Partner TPG NEWQUEST

Amit Gupta is a founding Partner of TPG NewQuest based in Singapore and oversees the India and Southeast Asia businesses. Amit has more than 20 years of industry experience. 

Prior to co-founding TPG NewQuest, he was a Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s (BAML) Asia Private Equity group where he led the India business and oversaw investments in the energy and financial services sectors across the Asia Pacific region. Amit has also served in other roles in BAML, including Corporate Principal Investments based in Hong Kong and Investment Banking based in Mumbai. 

Prior to working at BAML, Amit was a software engineer based in Mumbai and the United States. Amit has an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, where he was placed on the Director’s Merit List for his performance, and an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from REC Kurukshetra, where he received the University gold medal. Amit is fluent in English and Hindi.

Lydia Hao Managing Director HARBOURVEST PARTNERS

Lydia Hao joined HarbourVest’s primary partnership team in 2021 as a Managing Director based in Hong Kong and focuses on Asia-Pacific investments.

She was previously a Principal in Neuberger Berman’s private equity team, where she led the firm’s primary funds, co-investments, and secondary investments in the Greater China region. Prior to joining Neuberger Berman in 2017, Lydia spent seven years at CPP Investment Board in Hong Kong as one of the founding members of the Private Equity Asia team, building its direct investment portfolio across the Asia-Pacific region. Previously, she was based in New York where she worked at Apax Partners focused on US private equity buyouts in the consumer and TMT sectors, and worked at UBS Investment Bank in the Mergers and Acquisitions group advising clients across various industries.

Lydia received a Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) in Hotel Administration, from Cornell University. She speaks fluent Mandarin.

Shinichiro Kita Representative Director/ Senior Partner ADVANTAGE PARTNERS

Mr. Kita joined Advantage Partners in 2003 and leads all activities for the Japan Buyout team. Mr. Kita has also directly led many investments including CommunityOne, Katitas, Net Protections, Yaruki Switch Group and Cosmolife. He currently serves as a Director on several investments including Material Group,  Energywith, NFC Holdings, Net Japan and Daiho Industrial.

Prior to joining Advantage Partners, Mr. Kita was at Bain & Company Japan and focused on projects in the auto, finance, telecommunications, food products, trading houses, and healthcare sectors. Mr. Kita holds an undergraduate degree from the Faculty of Economics, the University of Tokyo, and an MBA from University of California, Berkeley.

Eiji Yatagawa Partner, Private Equity KKR

Eiji Yatagawa (Tokyo) joined KKR in 2006 and is a Partner on the Private Equity team. He is on the Board of Directors of PHC Holdings (formerly Panasonic Healthcare), Koki Holdings (formerly Hitachi Koki), Seiyu Holdings, dataX (formerly From Scratch), NETSTARS, Transphorm, and Yayoi. Mr. Yatagawa was also previously involved with KKR’s investments in Unisteel (Singapore), Intelligence, AlphaTheta (formerly Pioneer DJ), Marelli Holdings (formerly Calsonic Kansei), and Kokusai Electric (formerly Hitachi Kokusai Electric). From 2010 to 2012, he worked in KKR's Hong Kong office. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Yatagawa was with Goldman Sachs & Co.'s investment banking team, based in New York and Tokyo, where he focused on the telecommunications, media, and technology sector and was involved in a number of mergers and acquisitions as well as financing projects. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. from the University of Tokyo.

Mark Chiba Group Chairman & Partner THE LONGREACH GROUP

Mark Chiba is Group Chairman and Partner of The Longreach Group. The Longreach Group is an established independent private equity firm with offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo. The firm focuses on Japan and related Greater China control buyouts in the mature industrial and technology, consumer, business services and financial services sectors. The firm manages three Funds which have accumulated approximately US$2.1 billion of committed limited partner and co-investment capital.

Mark co-founded The Longreach Group in late 2003. Mark's lead responsibilities at Longreach include firm management, senior relationship driven deal sourcing and execution, investments in the financial services sector, and building the firm's capital base and global networks.

Before co-founding Longreach, Mark served as Chief Executive Officer and President of UBS Securities Japan, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Investment Banking Management Committee, Head of Japan Investment Banking and as a member of the UBS Global Investment Bank Board. Previous to this role in Japan, Mark headed the UBS Asia-Pacific Financial Institutions Group.

Mark is an Australian citizen, resident in Hong Kong. He holds First Class Honours degrees in Economics (University of Melbourne) and Law (University of Sydney). Mark is a Rhodes Scholar with a Master of Philosophy degree in International Relations (with Distinction) from Oxford University.

T.J. Kono Partner UNISON CAPITAL

T.J. Kono joined Unison Capital in 2002. He has managed a number of investments in Japan since Unison’s first fund, then led Unison’s expansion to Korea as its founding member. Today, he serves as a member of both Japan and Korea Investment Committee. He has been involved in Unison’s investments in Drug Eleven (Japan), Mine-Mart (Japan), UCOM (Japan), Nexcon Technology (Korea), Gong cha (Korea)/Royal Tea Taiwan (Taiwan), and Forbes (Japan). In addition to investment role, he oversees Unison Group’s investor relations functions. Prior to Unison Capital, he worked at Merrill Lynch Japan.

Mr. Kono has a B.S/B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.

Alex Boulton Partner BAIN & COMPANY

Alex is a member of Bain & Company’s Private Equity and Healthcare practices.

Since joining Bain in 2010, Alex has led numerous investment strategy, commercial due diligence and portfolio value creation initiatives across sectors, with a client portfolio that encompasses growth and buyout funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, infrastructure funds and asset management firms.

He has extensive experience across the Asia-Pacific healthcare sector and is deeply versed in mergers & acquisitions (M&A), full potential strategy and performance improvement.

He holds a BSc in economics, with First-Class Honours, from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Ling Yang Managing Director CARLYLE

Ling Yang is a Managing Director at Carlyle. She is co-head of Carlyle Asia Healthcare and is primarily responsible for Carlyle’s healthcare investment and portfolio activities in China. Ms. Yang began her career at Carlyle focusing on healthcare for the U.S. Buyout group and joined Carlyle Asia in 2011. Since joining Carlyle Asia, Ms. Yang has led investments into leading healthcare companies in China including Hutchmed, Adicon Clinical Laboratories, Ambiopharm, Microport Scientific Corporation, Meinian Onehealth, and Shenzhen Salubris Pharmaceuticals. She chairs the board of Adicon Clinical Laboratories and is a member of the boards of Ambiopharm and Shenzhen Salubris.

Prior to Carlyle Asia, Ms. Yang worked in private equity at KKR in Asia and in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in the U.S.

Ms. Yang graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics and computer science from Smith College and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Dr Lincoln Chee Managing Director CBC GROUP

Dr Lincoln Chee has over 25 years of experience as a surgeon, executive and investor. Prior to joining CBC he was the Greater China CEO of Parkway Pantai, overseeing three hospitals and six medical centers in Shanghai and Chengdu. Dr Chee was also previously Managing Director at Vertex Ventures, a venture subsidiary of Temasek Holdings with investments and exits in biotech, medtech and services.

Past career appointments include: CEO and board member of Quality Healthcare Asia, Technical Advisor and Reviewer of Singapore’s Central Gap Fund for biomedical innovation, Operating Partner and Advisor to Advent International and Lionrock PE funds, as well as a board member of listed companies in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Dr Chee received his medical degree from National University of Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Singapore. He also attended Executive Education in Finance and Business from Ross School of Business and Harvard Business School.

Charles-Antoine Janssen Co-founder & Managing Partner HEALTHQUAD

Charles-A. Janssen is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of HealthQuad. He is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of HealthQuad. He has over 25 years of experience in healthcare, private equity and corporate finance advisory. He is currently a board member of UCB S.A, Tubize S.A, Medikabazaar, Qure.ai, Wysa, Regency Healthcare, OVUM, Lilac Insights, THB, Neurosynaptic Communications. He has earlier served as a board member of OPPI, IBLCCI and FOPI. In 2010, Charles cofounded KOIS S.A. with François de Borchgrave, a global impact investing firm (blended finance structuring and investment management) active in healthcare, education/skilling and living environments. Previously, he has worked at Merrill Lynch, Web Lab, and UCB S.A. He graduated from Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels with a bachelor’s in law, completed the Advanced Management Programme at the Harvard Business School and the International Directors Program with Certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD.

Amit Varma Co-Founder and Managing Partner QUADRIA CAPITAL

Dr. Amit Varma is a critical care physician having practiced for almost 30 years in the United States and Asia. He has been on the founding team of large Asian healthcare companies like Narayana Hrudayalaya and Fortis healthcare. He has served on the board of various companies around asia in healthcare delivery, life sciences, medical tech and consumer healthcare including Parkway healthcare in Singapore. He currently co-manages Quadria Capital the largest healthcare focused private equity firm with almost 2 Billion USD in AUM. In addition he has sponsored a dedicated venture healthcare firm HealthQuad with a 200 million USD AUM to work with start ups and early stage companies. He continues to be involved in academics and research and works hard to demystify problems in healthcare.

Dr. Varma is currently the founding managing co-founder of Quadria capital one of the largest healthcare dedicated private equity funds in Asia.

Paul Schrecongost Portfolio Manager ALLIANZ GLOBAL INVESTORS

Paul is a Portfolio Manager with Allianz Global Investors’ Asia Private Credit team. He has over two decades of private credit experience – 16 years of which have been in Asia. Prior to joining AllianzGI, Paul was Head of Structured Lending & Special Situations Legal at Nomura. Paul holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, a M.A. from Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Foreign Service and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Matthew Michelini Head of Asia-Pacific APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

Matthew Michelini is Partner, Head of Asia-Pacific at Apollo and a member of the Firm’s Leadership Team. Matt joined Apollo in 2006 in Private Equity and has played a pivotal role in the creation and success of many of Apollo’s largest growth initiatives, including Athene, Hybrid Value, Apollo Dedicated Insurance Program, Natural Resources, and the development of the Financials Group. Matt serves as Investment Chair for Apollo’s Hybrid Value business and on the board of directors of Athene Holding Ltd. and Venerable Holdings, and previously served on the boards of Aleris Corporation, Metals USA, Noranda Aluminum, One Main Financial, and Warrior Met Coal. Previously, Matt was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Lazard Frères & Co.

John Knox Partner, Head of Ares Australia & New Zealand ARES

Mr. Knox is a Partner and Head of Australia and New Zealand at Ares, where he is primarily responsible for driving business expansion opportunities across Australia and New Zealand. Prior to joining Ares in 2020, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Australia, where he oversaw all of Credit Suisse Australia's businesses, including investment banking, private banking, equities, asset finance, fixed income, debt financing and shared services. Mr. Knox was also a member of the Credit Suisse APAC Operating Committee. Previously, Mr. Knox served as Head and Co-Head of Credit Suisse's Investment Banking Teams in Australia, where he led and originated many investment banking transactions across all industries. Mr. Knox served as Chairman of the Australian Financial Markets Association from 2016 to 2019. He is currently Chairman of Cricket NSW, the body responsible for running cricket in Australia's most populous state. Mr. Knox holds a B.Com. (Hons) from the University of Melbourne in Economics

Jeffrey Lau CIO of Private Credit & Special Situations, Partner PRIMAVERA CAPITAL GROUP

Jeffrey is Head and CIO of Credit Investments at Primavera Capital Group, and chairs the firm’s Credit Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Primavera, Jeffrey led and managed private investments in partnership with leading sovereign wealth funds, corporates and family offices. He was an investor and director of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group between 2012 and 2017. Previously, Jeffrey oversaw special situations, structured credit and equity investments in Greater China for Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. Prior to Och-Ziff, Jeffrey worked at The Blackstone Group in New York, and in the Mergers, Acquisitions and Restructuring Department at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, Los Angeles and New York.

Jeffrey earned his AB in Social Studies from Harvard University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude and as a John Harvard Scholar. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Christopher Mikosh Portfolio Manager and Co-Founder TOR INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT (HONG KONG) LIMITED

Chris Mikosh is the Portfolio Manager and Co-Founder of Tor Investment Management, a leading independent alternative credit manager in Asia with over $2.4 billion under management. Chris has over 25 years of direct credit investing and trading experience. Prior to Tor, he was Managing Director and Head Trader of the Asian Special Situations Group (ASSG) at Goldman Sachs (2000–2012). During his tenure, Chris was responsible for managing, sourcing, trading, and hedging a multi-asset class portfolio that averaged $3 billion. While at Goldman, Chris sat on the Asia Risk Committee and the Board of Goldman Sachs (Asia) Finance, the firm’s main investing entity in the region. Chris also sat on the Liquid Investing Committee for Non-Japan Asia, the Liquid Investing Committee for Japan, and the Illiquid Investing Committee in the US. Prior to Goldman, Chris spent four years at Lazard Frères as a desk analyst and then as Head Trader of the distressed and high-yield debt desk. Prior to that, he spent two years as a banker in Chase Securities’ high-yield origination group. Chris earned a dual degree BS in Finance and Computer Science/Management Information Systems from Boston College in 1994. He is a member of the board of the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation in Hong Kong.

Tanu Pandey Senior Reporter INFRALOGIC

Tanu is a Senior Reporter at Infralogic and responsible for the coverage of power/energy sector in Asia for the news and intelligence platform. Based in Singapore, she reports on project financing, fundraising, mergers and acquisitions and writes in-depth news  analysis on the Asian power space amid an ongoing transformation. Before joining the company in 2019, she covered the Private Equity and Sovereign Wealth Funds in Asia for three years and prior to that, she spent a decade as a financial journalist across Malaysia and India. She holds a graduate degree in Commerce & Business Studies from the University of Delhi and MA in Business Journalism. 

Thomas Walenta Senior Investment Officer ASIAN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT BANK (AIIB)

Thomas is Senior Investment Officer at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral financial institution with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia by investing in sustainable infrastructure and other productive sectors. At AIIB, Thomas is responsible for originating, structuring and executing innovative, developmental and profitable debt and equity transactions, including fund investments, across all infrastructure sectors in Asia.

Prior to AIIB, he was an adviser to the German Federal Ministry of Finance to support the establishment of AIIB and advise the German Chief Negotiator on AIIB’s institutional, operational and financial policy framework. Earlier in his career, Thomas worked at KfW Development Bank, where he was responsible for managing equity investments and structuring loans for infrastructure projects in developing countries and emerging markets in Asia, including managing a EUR450-million p.a. infrastructure investment program for China.

Thomas earned a BBA and M.Sc. in International Business Administration from European University Viadrina, Germany and an MBA from Catholic University of Cordoba, Argentina. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Nicole Goh Head, Infrastructure Asia ex-China GIC

Nicole Goh joined GIC Infrastructure in 2008. As Head, Infrastructure Asia ex-China, she has investment coverage responsibility for opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, with prior experience investing in the US and Europe. She represents GIC Infrastructure on the boards of its portfolio companies in the region.

Nicole has a BSc in Mathematics with Statistics for Finance from Imperial College London, and an MSc in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

Dr. Valerie Speth Managing Director, Climate Infrastructure Group, Asia Pacific BLACKROCK

Dr. Valerie Speth is the Co-Lead APAC for the Climate Infrastructure Group which invests and manages investments and portfolio companies of the Global Renewable Power Fund 3 (4.8 Billion USD) and the Climate Finance Partnership (673 Mio. USD). As a qualified mechanical engineer, she brings more than 15 years’ of experience in the renewable power sector in Europe and APAC. Prior to joining BlackRock, she was the CEO of a global wind and solar developer for APAC and hold senior leadership positions in strategy, M&A and portfolio management. Valerie was placed in the “Top 40 under 40” in 2019, 2020 and 2021 by the Capital business magazine in Germany.

Valerie holds an engineering diploma from University of Stuttgart, a Master of Engineering Management as a Fulbright Scholar from Duke University, a PhD in Business from St. Gallen University, a Personal Leadership Certificate from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an International Director Certificate from INSEAD.

Brenda Lau Director, Private Equity Product Specialist IFM INVESTORS

Brenda Lau is the Director, Private Equity Product Specialist at IFM Investors, based in the Sydney office. She is responsible for managing client relationships, and building and deepening technical knowledge across investors and consultants globally.

Prior to this role, Brenda was the Head of Asset Management Asia, Private Markets & Alternatives at CA Indosuez (Switzerland) SA, which is part of the Credit Agricole group, based in Hong Kong. She was responsible for managing all Asia Pacific private markets investments as well as advising on the allocation of strategies for the private clients’ portfolios globally. Previously, she held senior relationship management and business development roles at EntrustPermal and Hamilton Lane, where she covered institutional clients including sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, provident funds, and private banking clients in the Asia Pacific region.

Brenda holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance and Management of Organizations from the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. She is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and a member of the CAIA Association.

Stephen Bates Partner, Head of Financial Services ASPAC, Deal Advisory, Singapore KPMG

Stephen leads financial services deal advisory in Singapore and Indonesia and has over 20 years experience in providing advice to clients on their transactions across Europe, the US and in the Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Singapore from London, Stephen led the deal advisory banking capital markets and consumer lending sectors and spent five years building the Financial Services transaction advisory business in Switzerland.

Stephen has significant experience leading transactions in Fintech, Banking, Insurance and Investment management providing advice to clients on M&A including target search, acquisition due diligence, refinancing, vendor assistance and vendor due diligence.

Professional and industry experience 

Advised Altimeter Growth Corp on the largest SPAC merger with Southeast Asia’s super app Grab Holdings Inc

Advised a consortium led by Singapore Life and TPG Capital on the acquisition of Aviva Singapore

Advised a Global bank on its proposed acquisition of Citi Group’s consumer business portfolio across Asia

Advised Allianz Global Investors on its acquisition of PT RHB Asset Management Indonesia from RHB Bank

Advised a confidential PE on its proposed investment in GoTo

Advised SoftBank Ventures on its investment in an e-wallet business in South Korea

Advised a confidential client on its proposed SPAC merger with a financial product comparison platform in Asia

Advised Warburg Pincus on its acquisition of ABDA and ABDA Assistance in Indonesia from Mapfre Insurance Group

Advised Eight Roads on their Series B investment in StashAway

Advised a global VC on its potential investment in a Singapore based robo-advisor

Advised on Ant Financial’s acquisition of HelloPay in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia

Advised Warburg Pincus on their investment in Techcombank

Advised a large global private equity firm on their proposed investment into a new Buku 3 bank which was being planned based on a merger between 2 Buku 2 banks in Indonesia

Advised a Middle Eastern bank on a potential investment into a Buku 3 bank in Indonesia

Christina Bao Managing Director, Co-Head of Sales & Marketing HKEX

Ms Christina Bao, Managing Director, is currently the Co-Head of Sales & Marketing at HKEX. 

Ms Bao joined HKEX in 2016 as the Chief of Staff, reporting to the CE of HKEX. She was responsible for the planning and oversight of the Group’s strategic projects.

Prior to joining HKEX, Christina held a number of senior positions at Ping An Bank (previously at Shenzhen Development Bank, which merged with Ping An Bank in 2010) since 2001. At Shenzhen Development Bank, she served as the Chief of Staff to the Chairman and CEO from 2005 until 2010, and was responsible for the bank’s strategic projects, Investor Relations and Public Relations. After the merger and integration of the two banks, she headed Retail e-Banking, Service & Marketing, and the Retail e-Finance Strategic Business Unit for Ping An Bank.

Ms Bao received her Master of Business Administration (Finance, General) from the Peking University of Mainland China.

Andrew Hawkyard Chief Investment Officer MORGAN STANLEY PRIVATE EQUITY ASIA

Andrew is the Chief Investment Officer of MSPE Asia and a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley. Mr. Hawkyard joined the Firm in 1999 and has been investing in Asia private equity for 23 years, including 22 years managing MSPE Asia’s five private equity funds to date: MSGEM (1999), Fund II (2005), Fund III (2007), Fund IV (2013) and Fund V (2018). Mr. Hawkyard currently leads the group’s private equity activities in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, and prior to that he played a lead role in establishing MSPE Asia’s private equity business in South Korea. Mr Hawkyard is also leading the establishment and oversight of the Thailand private equity business and is a member of the Thai Fund Investment Committee. Mr. Hawkyard is a director of Microlife and was previously a director of ACR, Landmark, Jinbang and CTCI and an observer to the boards of Itest and eAccess. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Hawkyard worked in the Merchant Banking and Investment Banking divisions of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette in Hong Kong and New York. Mr. Hawkyard is a native of New Zealand and is based in Hong Kong. Mr. Hawkyard received a B.A. with First Class Honors in applied mathematics and a B.C.A. in finance from Victoria University.

Tony Duthie Managing Director, Buyouts and Secure Assets PACIFIC EQUITY PARTNERS

Tony joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2006. Before joining PEP, Tony was a Partner of Bain & Company with over 12 years of consulting experience in Australia, Asia and Europe. Tony received an MBA from INSEAD (Dean’s List) and a BCom from the University of New South Wales.

Sumit Punwani Partner, Corporate Finance, Deal Advisory KPMG

Sumit has more than 20 years of experience in providing M&A advisory services including acquisitions and divestments, capital advisory, strategic and financial advice and project management in multiple financial hubs across Europe and Asia including United Kingdom, Singapore, Indonesia and India. He has significant cross-border experience advising some of the leading MNCs, PEs and SMEs with principal experience on transactions within the Technology, Media, Consumer, Logistics and Financial Services verticals.

Areas of expertise

Mergers and Acquisitions, Capital Raising, Start-up Funding

Educations and Qualifications

• Master of Business Administration – Nanyang Business School, Singapore / ESSEC, France
• Bachelor of Commerce – University of Mumbai, India
• Chartered Accountant, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

Rishi Dua Associate Portfolio Manager AWARE SUPER

Rishi joined the Aware Super Private Equity team in 2019. His experience includes manager research, co-investment assessment, portfolio analysis and investment strategy development. Aware Super is one of Australia's largest superannuation (pension) funds, with more than $150bn in funds under management. Prior to Aware Super, Rishi worked in the Private Equity team at the Future Fund, where he helped manage its private equity portfolio. Rishi started his career in the Corporate Finance team at KPMG primarily focussed on Mergers and Acquisitions. He holds a Bachelor of Laws and Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Chartered Accounting.

Dovaldas Buzinskas Senior Director, Private Equity CDPQ

Dovaldas is a Senior Director, Private Equity at CDPQ, a global investment group with CAD 424 billion in assets under management. Based in Singapore, he covers direct investments in Asia-Pacific with a strong focus on the technology and health care segments.

Dovaldas joined CDPQ in 2017 and has over 10 years of experience in Private Equity and M&A.

Previously, Dovaldas worked at Antin Infrastructure Partners, a leading Private Equity firm focusing on infrastructure investments with over €15 billion assets under management. He started his career at Goldman Sachs in Paris, in the Investment Banking division covering France and Benelux. 

Dovaldas holds a Master in Finance from HEC Paris and currently sits on the Boards of Directors of Druva, PharmEasy, Healthscope and CleverTap.

David Ye Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO RONG360

David Ye is an entrepreneur and investor with 25 years of experience in Internet, Financial Technology and banking in the United States, China, South East Asia and other emerging markets. He is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Rong360, a leading independent and open platform for discovery and recommendation of financial products in China and South East Asia. Before founding Rong360 in 2011, he had leadership roles with PayPal, American Express, Capital One and America Online in the U.S. and China.

He sits on the advisory board of the Stanford University Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He is a mentor of Tsinghua University PBoC School of Finance (PBCSF) Global Entrepreneur Leadership Program. David was awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year” by The Founder in 2015.

David received a BS in Engineering from Hunan University, a Master of Science in Finance from the George Washington University and an EMBA at the PBoC School of Finance, Tsinghua University.

David is an avid endurance sports athlete, having successfully completed major marathons and Ironman triathlon events in Asia and the U.S.

Ethan Koh Asia Research Director GPCA

Ethan Koh is the Asia Research Director at GPCA, where he manages the overall Asia data and leads the production of all Asia-related research reports and presentations. Ethan is also responsible for communicating key findings and themes to members and presenting GPCA research results at conferences and events. With a dual role as the Head of the Asia Headquarters based in Singapore, Ethan supports GPCA’s broader programming and advocacy efforts in the region.

With over a decade of experience, Ethan held managerial positions in Singapore and Hong Kong, delivering strategic values to corporate decision-makers and global institutional clients. Prior to joining GPCA, Ethan was Senior Manager for Real Capital Analytics, where he led the firm’s research efforts in Asia Pacific. Before that, he was Senior Investment Writer for Partners Group and Research Manager for PEI Media.

Herbert Suen Head of Private Wealth Solutions Asia BLACKSTONE

Herbert Suen is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Wealth Solutions group and is based in Singapore.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Suen worked at Barclays Wealth as Head of Managed Products in Asia. Prior to Barclays, Mr. Suen worked at Credit Suisse overseeing Fund-based advisory portfolio solutions for private wealth clients. Before that he also worked at Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Bank, Franklin Templeton and Mitsubishi Corporation in various capacities including financial engineering and business development.

Mr. Suen received a Master of Science (with Distinction) in Mathematics for Finance & Actuarial Science jointly from Paris Dauphine University and City University of Hong Kong. He graduated from Curtin University of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Arts (with Distinction) in Asian Studies. He is a CFA charter holder and a certified FRM. He speaks fluent English, Cantonese, Japanese and Mandarin.

Edwin Chan Managing Director, Head of Client Solutions, Asia iCAPITAL

Edwin Chan joined iCapital in 2021 as Head of Asia and Head of Client Solutions APAC. He has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, including a strong track record in private markets in the Asia Pacific region.

Before joining iCapital, Edwin successfully founded and spent a decade building the Probitas Partners business in Asia. He has worked with many private market firms across different alternative investment strategies as well as with institutional and family office investors in the Asia Pacific region. Previously, Edwin worked with AIG Global Investments, Citi, and HSBC based out of Hong Kong in various regional roles covering clients across the broad Asian geography.

He holds a MBA and a BA from the University of South Australia and is a Certified Practicing Accountant of CPA Australia.

Patrick Sixsmith Managing Principal, Private Markets HSBC ALTERNATIVES

Patrick Sixsmith is a Managing Principal in the HAIL Private Markets team and a member of HSBC Alternatives’ Investment Committee. He has a particular focus on managing and expanding the business’ co-investment vertical. He also leads the team’s coverage for North America, Asia, as well as Venture Capital. He started his career in HSBC’s Investment Banking division in 2005 before joining HSBC’s Principal Investments team in 2007, helping to create the team that focused on lower mid-market direct buyouts, becoming a Managing Director and running its direct Private Equity investment programme in UK & Europe and, later, Asia. Patrick represents and has represented HSBC on numerous Company Boards. 

Alex Boulton Partner BAIN & COMPANY

Alex is a member of Bain & Company’s Private Equity and Healthcare practices.

Since joining Bain in 2010, Alex has led numerous investment strategy, commercial due diligence and portfolio value creation initiatives across sectors, with a client portfolio that encompasses growth and buyout funds, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, infrastructure funds and asset management firms.

He has extensive experience across the Asia-Pacific healthcare sector and is deeply versed in mergers & acquisitions (M&A), full potential strategy and performance improvement.

He holds a BSc in economics, with First-Class Honours, from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Amit Gupta Partner TPG NEWQUEST

Amit Gupta is a founding Partner of TPG NewQuest based in Singapore and oversees the India and Southeast Asia businesses. Amit has more than 20 years of industry experience. 

Prior to co-founding TPG NewQuest, he was a Director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s (BAML) Asia Private Equity group where he led the India business and oversaw investments in the energy and financial services sectors across the Asia Pacific region. Amit has also served in other roles in BAML, including Corporate Principal Investments based in Hong Kong and Investment Banking based in Mumbai. 

Prior to working at BAML, Amit was a software engineer based in Mumbai and the United States. Amit has an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, where he was placed on the Director’s Merit List for his performance, and an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from REC Kurukshetra, where he received the University gold medal. Amit is fluent in English and Hindi.

Amit Varma Co-Founder and Managing Partner QUADRIA CAPITAL

Dr. Amit Varma is a critical care physician having practiced for almost 30 years in the United States and Asia. He has been on the founding team of large Asian healthcare companies like Narayana Hrudayalaya and Fortis healthcare. He has served on the board of various companies around asia in healthcare delivery, life sciences, medical tech and consumer healthcare including Parkway healthcare in Singapore. He currently co-manages Quadria Capital the largest healthcare focused private equity firm with almost 2 Billion USD in AUM. In addition he has sponsored a dedicated venture healthcare firm HealthQuad with a 200 million USD AUM to work with start ups and early stage companies. He continues to be involved in academics and research and works hard to demystify problems in healthcare.

Dr. Varma is currently the founding managing co-founder of Quadria capital one of the largest healthcare dedicated private equity funds in Asia.

Anand S. Krishnan Managing Partner FIDELISWORLD

Anand Krishnan has 33 years of experience across Delhi, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Dubai in entrepreneurship, controllership, investment banking, and private equity. He was involved in sovereign restructurings in the late 80’s, Asian crisis restructuring in the late 90’s, and the late 2000’s global recession with emphasis on restructuring in the UAE. Anand has been integral to the value creation process at JP Morgan Chase and at Dubai International Capital. He has managed AUMs of over US$ 5 billion over a period of 10 years with significant experience in the full cycle of PE, and in a diversified space which includes aerospace, leisure, hotels, sports, medicine, and oil & gas.

He deployed proprietary capital in researching an investment strategy in the media & entertainment space, with a focus on the sports ecosystem, ultimately resulting in the formation of a specialist, differentiated investment strategy for value creation and risk reduction employed by FidelisWorld.

Anand has a BA in Business from Delhi University, India; an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, USA; and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, USA. He has been a participant in several leadership courses across JPMorgan and DIC in Asia and the US and was named a “Top Indian Leader in the Arab World” in 2015 by Forbes Middle East. Born and raised in India, Anand speaks English, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam.

Andrew Hawkyard Chief Investment Officer MORGAN STANLEY PRIVATE EQUITY ASIA

Andrew is the Chief Investment Officer of MSPE Asia and a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley. Mr. Hawkyard joined the Firm in 1999 and has been investing in Asia private equity for 23 years, including 22 years managing MSPE Asia’s five private equity funds to date: MSGEM (1999), Fund II (2005), Fund III (2007), Fund IV (2013) and Fund V (2018). Mr. Hawkyard currently leads the group’s private equity activities in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, and prior to that he played a lead role in establishing MSPE Asia’s private equity business in South Korea. Mr Hawkyard is also leading the establishment and oversight of the Thailand private equity business and is a member of the Thai Fund Investment Committee. Mr. Hawkyard is a director of Microlife and was previously a director of ACR, Landmark, Jinbang and CTCI and an observer to the boards of Itest and eAccess. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Hawkyard worked in the Merchant Banking and Investment Banking divisions of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette in Hong Kong and New York. Mr. Hawkyard is a native of New Zealand and is based in Hong Kong. Mr. Hawkyard received a B.A. with First Class Honors in applied mathematics and a B.C.A. in finance from Victoria University.

Andrew Tymms Partner and Co-Head of APAC Private Equity Practice BAIN & COMPANY

Andrew Tymms is the leader of Bain’s Asia-Pacific Private Equity practice.

He has more than 23 years’ experience with Bain across the UK, Europe, Africa and Australia, focused on supporting private equity and alternative investment firms across the investment value-chain.

His deep experience in all aspects of private equity and M&A include:

• Deal sourcing and screening
• Integrated (commercial and operational) due diligence
• Post-acquisition (growth and performance acceleration, developing and driving value creation plans (VCPs), post-merger integration (PMI)
• Exit planning and sell-side support
• PE and alternative investment firm strategy development

Andrew has led more than 300 commercial reviews, M&A and both post-acquisition and portfolio company projects for leading private equity investors and hedge funds.

He also holds significant industry experience in tech, media and telecom (TMT), financial services, business services, retail, healthcare and digital.

Andrew is an honors graduate of the University of Melbourne in electrical and electronic engineering.

Brenda Lau Director, Private Equity Product Specialist IFM INVESTORS

Brenda Lau is the Director, Private Equity Product Specialist at IFM Investors, based in the Sydney office. She is responsible for managing client relationships, and building and deepening technical knowledge across investors and consultants globally.

Prior to this role, Brenda was the Head of Asset Management Asia, Private Markets & Alternatives at CA Indosuez (Switzerland) SA, which is part of the Credit Agricole group, based in Hong Kong. She was responsible for managing all Asia Pacific private markets investments as well as advising on the allocation of strategies for the private clients’ portfolios globally. Previously, she held senior relationship management and business development roles at EntrustPermal and Hamilton Lane, where she covered institutional clients including sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, provident funds, and private banking clients in the Asia Pacific region.

Brenda holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance and Management of Organizations from the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. She is a Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst and a member of the CAIA Association.

Charles-Antoine Janssen Co-founder & Managing Partner HEALTHQUAD

Charles-A. Janssen is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of HealthQuad. He is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of HealthQuad. He has over 25 years of experience in healthcare, private equity and corporate finance advisory. He is currently a board member of UCB S.A, Tubize S.A, Medikabazaar, Qure.ai, Wysa, Regency Healthcare, OVUM, Lilac Insights, THB, Neurosynaptic Communications. He has earlier served as a board member of OPPI, IBLCCI and FOPI. In 2010, Charles cofounded KOIS S.A. with François de Borchgrave, a global impact investing firm (blended finance structuring and investment management) active in healthcare, education/skilling and living environments. Previously, he has worked at Merrill Lynch, Web Lab, and UCB S.A. He graduated from Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels with a bachelor’s in law, completed the Advanced Management Programme at the Harvard Business School and the International Directors Program with Certificate in Corporate Governance from INSEAD.

Chinta Bhagat Managing Partner, Asia L CATTERTON

Mr. Bhagat is a Managing Partner in the Asia Fund of L Catterton. In this role over the last three years, he has been responsible for driving the integration of the Asian franchise into the global firm, reshaping the strategy and focus of the firm in Asia, and leading marquee transactions in the region.

Prior to joining L Catterton, Mr. Bhagat was Head of Private Markets for South Asia and concurrently head of the global healthcare portfolio at Khazanah Nasional Berhad. Mr. Bhagat also spent 14 years at McKinsey & Company, including six years as Managing Partner of the Singapore office. He was a leader in the principal investor, healthcare and operations practices and worked extensively with private equity and sovereign wealth funds to develop strategies, execute transactions, manage risk, and implement board governance initiatives.

Mr. Bhagat received a degree in Architecture from the University of Mumbai and an M.B.A. in International Business from INSEAD.

Christina Bao Managing Director, Co-Head of Sales & Marketing HKEX

Ms Christina Bao, Managing Director, is currently the Co-Head of Sales & Marketing at HKEX. 

Ms Bao joined HKEX in 2016 as the Chief of Staff, reporting to the CE of HKEX. She was responsible for the planning and oversight of the Group’s strategic projects.

Prior to joining HKEX, Christina held a number of senior positions at Ping An Bank (previously at Shenzhen Development Bank, which merged with Ping An Bank in 2010) since 2001. At Shenzhen Development Bank, she served as the Chief of Staff to the Chairman and CEO from 2005 until 2010, and was responsible for the bank’s strategic projects, Investor Relations and Public Relations. After the merger and integration of the two banks, she headed Retail e-Banking, Service & Marketing, and the Retail e-Finance Strategic Business Unit for Ping An Bank.

Ms Bao received her Master of Business Administration (Finance, General) from the Peking University of Mainland China.

Christopher Mikosh Portfolio Manager and Co-Founder TOR INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT (HONG KONG) LIMITED

Chris Mikosh is the Portfolio Manager and Co-Founder of Tor Investment Management, a leading independent alternative credit manager in Asia with over $2.4 billion under management. Chris has over 25 years of direct credit investing and trading experience. Prior to Tor, he was Managing Director and Head Trader of the Asian Special Situations Group (ASSG) at Goldman Sachs (2000–2012). During his tenure, Chris was responsible for managing, sourcing, trading, and hedging a multi-asset class portfolio that averaged $3 billion. While at Goldman, Chris sat on the Asia Risk Committee and the Board of Goldman Sachs (Asia) Finance, the firm’s main investing entity in the region. Chris also sat on the Liquid Investing Committee for Non-Japan Asia, the Liquid Investing Committee for Japan, and the Illiquid Investing Committee in the US. Prior to Goldman, Chris spent four years at Lazard Frères as a desk analyst and then as Head Trader of the distressed and high-yield debt desk. Prior to that, he spent two years as a banker in Chase Securities’ high-yield origination group. Chris earned a dual degree BS in Finance and Computer Science/Management Information Systems from Boston College in 1994. He is a member of the board of the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation in Hong Kong.

Chulmin Lee Managing Partner VIG PARTNERS

Chulmin Lee is a founding member of VIG Partners, where he joined in 2005. Mr. Lee worked as a Senior Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group (“BCG”) for five years, engaged in numerous post-merger integration, operational improvement, strategy development, commercial due diligence, and corporate restructuring projects. Mr. Lee managed most of BCG’s M&A and post-merger integration projects in Korea, including overseas strategic investments and cross-border post-merger integrations. Mr. Lee’s experience spans various industries, including industrial goods, financial services, consumer electronics, and telecommunications. Mr. Lee holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and graduated with a BS in Computer Science and Statistics from Seoul National University.

David Ye Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO RONG360

David Ye is an entrepreneur and investor with 25 years of experience in Internet, Financial Technology and banking in the United States, China, South East Asia and other emerging markets. He is the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Rong360, a leading independent and open platform for discovery and recommendation of financial products in China and South East Asia. Before founding Rong360 in 2011, he had leadership roles with PayPal, American Express, Capital One and America Online in the U.S. and China.

He sits on the advisory board of the Stanford University Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He is a mentor of Tsinghua University PBoC School of Finance (PBCSF) Global Entrepreneur Leadership Program. David was awarded “Entrepreneur of the Year” by The Founder in 2015.

David received a BS in Engineering from Hunan University, a Master of Science in Finance from the George Washington University and an EMBA at the PBoC School of Finance, Tsinghua University.

David is an avid endurance sports athlete, having successfully completed major marathons and Ironman triathlon events in Asia and the U.S.

Dovaldas Buzinskas Senior Director, Private Equity CDPQ

Dovaldas is a Senior Director, Private Equity at CDPQ, a global investment group with CAD 424 billion in assets under management. Based in Singapore, he covers direct investments in Asia-Pacific with a strong focus on the technology and health care segments.

Dovaldas joined CDPQ in 2017 and has over 10 years of experience in Private Equity and M&A.

Previously, Dovaldas worked at Antin Infrastructure Partners, a leading Private Equity firm focusing on infrastructure investments with over €15 billion assets under management. He started his career at Goldman Sachs in Paris, in the Investment Banking division covering France and Benelux. 

Dovaldas holds a Master in Finance from HEC Paris and currently sits on the Boards of Directors of Druva, PharmEasy, Healthscope and CleverTap.

Dr Lincoln Chee Managing Director CBC GROUP

Dr Lincoln Chee has over 25 years of experience as a surgeon, executive and investor. Prior to joining CBC he was the Greater China CEO of Parkway Pantai, overseeing three hospitals and six medical centers in Shanghai and Chengdu. Dr Chee was also previously Managing Director at Vertex Ventures, a venture subsidiary of Temasek Holdings with investments and exits in biotech, medtech and services.

Past career appointments include: CEO and board member of Quality Healthcare Asia, Technical Advisor and Reviewer of Singapore’s Central Gap Fund for biomedical innovation, Operating Partner and Advisor to Advent International and Lionrock PE funds, as well as a board member of listed companies in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Dr Chee received his medical degree from National University of Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh and a Fellow of the Academy of Medicine Singapore. He also attended Executive Education in Finance and Business from Ross School of Business and Harvard Business School.

Dr. Valerie Speth Managing Director, Climate Infrastructure Group, Asia Pacific BLACKROCK

Dr. Valerie Speth is the Co-Lead APAC for the Climate Infrastructure Group which invests and manages investments and portfolio companies of the Global Renewable Power Fund 3 (4.8 Billion USD) and the Climate Finance Partnership (673 Mio. USD). As a qualified mechanical engineer, she brings more than 15 years’ of experience in the renewable power sector in Europe and APAC. Prior to joining BlackRock, she was the CEO of a global wind and solar developer for APAC and hold senior leadership positions in strategy, M&A and portfolio management. Valerie was placed in the “Top 40 under 40” in 2019, 2020 and 2021 by the Capital business magazine in Germany.

Valerie holds an engineering diploma from University of Stuttgart, a Master of Engineering Management as a Fulbright Scholar from Duke University, a PhD in Business from St. Gallen University, a Personal Leadership Certificate from Stanford Graduate School of Business and an International Director Certificate from INSEAD.

Edwin Chan Managing Director, Head of Client Solutions, Asia iCAPITAL

Edwin Chan joined iCapital in 2021 as Head of Asia and Head of Client Solutions APAC. He has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, including a strong track record in private markets in the Asia Pacific region.

Before joining iCapital, Edwin successfully founded and spent a decade building the Probitas Partners business in Asia. He has worked with many private market firms across different alternative investment strategies as well as with institutional and family office investors in the Asia Pacific region. Previously, Edwin worked with AIG Global Investments, Citi, and HSBC based out of Hong Kong in various regional roles covering clients across the broad Asian geography.

He holds a MBA and a BA from the University of South Australia and is a Certified Practicing Accountant of CPA Australia.

Eiji Yatagawa Partner, Private Equity KKR

Eiji Yatagawa (Tokyo) joined KKR in 2006 and is a Partner on the Private Equity team. He is on the Board of Directors of PHC Holdings (formerly Panasonic Healthcare), Koki Holdings (formerly Hitachi Koki), Seiyu Holdings, dataX (formerly From Scratch), NETSTARS, Transphorm, and Yayoi. Mr. Yatagawa was also previously involved with KKR’s investments in Unisteel (Singapore), Intelligence, AlphaTheta (formerly Pioneer DJ), Marelli Holdings (formerly Calsonic Kansei), and Kokusai Electric (formerly Hitachi Kokusai Electric). From 2010 to 2012, he worked in KKR's Hong Kong office. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Yatagawa was with Goldman Sachs & Co.'s investment banking team, based in New York and Tokyo, where he focused on the telecommunications, media, and technology sector and was involved in a number of mergers and acquisitions as well as financing projects. He holds a B.S. and an M.S. from the University of Tokyo.

Ethan Koh Asia Research Director GPCA

Ethan Koh is the Asia Research Director at GPCA, where he manages the overall Asia data and leads the production of all Asia-related research reports and presentations. Ethan is also responsible for communicating key findings and themes to members and presenting GPCA research results at conferences and events. With a dual role as the Head of the Asia Headquarters based in Singapore, Ethan supports GPCA’s broader programming and advocacy efforts in the region.

With over a decade of experience, Ethan held managerial positions in Singapore and Hong Kong, delivering strategic values to corporate decision-makers and global institutional clients. Prior to joining GPCA, Ethan was Senior Manager for Real Capital Analytics, where he led the firm’s research efforts in Asia Pacific. Before that, he was Senior Investment Writer for Partners Group and Research Manager for PEI Media.

Gaurav Sharma Head of Private Equity India INVESTCORP GROUP

Gaurav joined Investcorp when Investcorp Group acquired IDFC Alternatives in February 2019. He has over 26 years of experience both in the US and India across entrepreneurship, private equity, M&A, corporate finance and investment banking.

Gaurav was previously the co-founder of Prime Gourmet Private Limited. Prior to that, he held the role of Director of Providence Equity Partners’ India office. Gaurav was also part of the Investment banking team of Deutsche Bank and Wachovia Capital in New York -covering the Telecom and Media sectors. Gaurav started his career as the Founder and CEO of TrinayanaAuto -a manufacturer of auto components in India. His current and past board positions include FreshToHome, Zolo Stays, NephroPlus, ASG Eye Hospitals, Intergrow, UFO Moviezand MediAssistHealthcare

He holds a Master in Business Administration degree from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Gaurav Ahuja Partner CHRYSCAPITAL

Gaurav Ahuja is a Managing Director with ChrysCapital and has been with the firm since 2004.  He is responsible for the LP Relations and Fund Raising functions at ChrysCapital. Mr. Ahuja is a member of the Investment Committee and sits on the board of Infogain, ChrysCapital’s IT Services portfolio company.  Prior to joining ChrysCapital, he was in the M&A group at Lazard Freres in San Francisco and Merrill Lynch in New York.  

Mr. Ahuja received an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Economics from the University of Virginia.

Gopal Jain Managing Partner and Co-Founder GAJA CAPITAL

Gopal Jain is Managing Partner and Co-founder of Gaja Capital, an India-focused growth & buyout firm based in Mumbai. Founded in 2004, Gaja is a leading player in India’s private equity market with an exceptional track record of 24 investments and an AUM of over US$ 750 Mn. Gopal has been investing in Indian equities since the age of thirteen and has been a professional investor in the Indian capital markets for over 30 years. He is one of the more experienced private equity investors in India having led or co-led over 26 private equity investments since 1995. He is a graduate in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi.

Gopal is an active columnist and is currently member of Alternative Investment Policy Advisory Committee of Indian market regulator. He has a deep interest in the social sector and leads Gaja Gives which supports a wide and growing number of social efforts in India.

Herbert Suen Head of Private Wealth Solutions Asia BLACKSTONE

Herbert Suen is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Wealth Solutions group and is based in Singapore.

Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Suen worked at Barclays Wealth as Head of Managed Products in Asia. Prior to Barclays, Mr. Suen worked at Credit Suisse overseeing Fund-based advisory portfolio solutions for private wealth clients. Before that he also worked at Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Bank, Franklin Templeton and Mitsubishi Corporation in various capacities including financial engineering and business development.

Mr. Suen received a Master of Science (with Distinction) in Mathematics for Finance & Actuarial Science jointly from Paris Dauphine University and City University of Hong Kong. He graduated from Curtin University of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Arts (with Distinction) in Asian Studies. He is a CFA charter holder and a certified FRM. He speaks fluent English, Cantonese, Japanese and Mandarin.

Jeffrey Lau CIO of Private Credit & Special Situations, Partner PRIMAVERA CAPITAL GROUP

Jeffrey is Head and CIO of Credit Investments at Primavera Capital Group, and chairs the firm’s Credit Investment Committee.

Prior to joining Primavera, Jeffrey led and managed private investments in partnership with leading sovereign wealth funds, corporates and family offices. He was an investor and director of Village Roadshow Entertainment Group between 2012 and 2017. Previously, Jeffrey oversaw special situations, structured credit and equity investments in Greater China for Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. Prior to Och-Ziff, Jeffrey worked at The Blackstone Group in New York, and in the Mergers, Acquisitions and Restructuring Department at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, Los Angeles and New York.

Jeffrey earned his AB in Social Studies from Harvard University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude and as a John Harvard Scholar. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

John Knox Partner, Head of Ares Australia & New Zealand ARES

Mr. Knox is a Partner and Head of Australia and New Zealand at Ares, where he is primarily responsible for driving business expansion opportunities across Australia and New Zealand. Prior to joining Ares in 2020, he was the Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Australia, where he oversaw all of Credit Suisse Australia's businesses, including investment banking, private banking, equities, asset finance, fixed income, debt financing and shared services. Mr. Knox was also a member of the Credit Suisse APAC Operating Committee. Previously, Mr. Knox served as Head and Co-Head of Credit Suisse's Investment Banking Teams in Australia, where he led and originated many investment banking transactions across all industries. Mr. Knox served as Chairman of the Australian Financial Markets Association from 2016 to 2019. He is currently Chairman of Cricket NSW, the body responsible for running cricket in Australia's most populous state. Mr. Knox holds a B.Com. (Hons) from the University of Melbourne in Economics

Ling Yang Managing Director CARLYLE

Ling Yang is a Managing Director at Carlyle. She is co-head of Carlyle Asia Healthcare and is primarily responsible for Carlyle’s healthcare investment and portfolio activities in China. Ms. Yang began her career at Carlyle focusing on healthcare for the U.S. Buyout group and joined Carlyle Asia in 2011. Since joining Carlyle Asia, Ms. Yang has led investments into leading healthcare companies in China including Hutchmed, Adicon Clinical Laboratories, Ambiopharm, Microport Scientific Corporation, Meinian Onehealth, and Shenzhen Salubris Pharmaceuticals. She chairs the board of Adicon Clinical Laboratories and is a member of the boards of Ambiopharm and Shenzhen Salubris.

Prior to Carlyle Asia, Ms. Yang worked in private equity at KKR in Asia and in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in the U.S.

Ms. Yang graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics and computer science from Smith College and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Lydia Hao Managing Director HARBOURVEST PARTNERS

Lydia Hao joined HarbourVest’s primary partnership team in 2021 as a Managing Director based in Hong Kong and focuses on Asia-Pacific investments.

She was previously a Principal in Neuberger Berman’s private equity team, where she led the firm’s primary funds, co-investments, and secondary investments in the Greater China region. Prior to joining Neuberger Berman in 2017, Lydia spent seven years at CPP Investment Board in Hong Kong as one of the founding members of the Private Equity Asia team, building its direct investment portfolio across the Asia-Pacific region. Previously, she was based in New York where she worked at Apax Partners focused on US private equity buyouts in the consumer and TMT sectors, and worked at UBS Investment Bank in the Mergers and Acquisitions group advising clients across various industries.

Lydia received a Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) in Hotel Administration, from Cornell University. She speaks fluent Mandarin.

Mark Chiba Group Chairman & Partner THE LONGREACH GROUP

Mark Chiba is Group Chairman and Partner of The Longreach Group. The Longreach Group is an established independent private equity firm with offices in Hong Kong and Tokyo. The firm focuses on Japan and related Greater China control buyouts in the mature industrial and technology, consumer, business services and financial services sectors. The firm manages three Funds which have accumulated approximately US$2.1 billion of committed limited partner and co-investment capital.

Mark co-founded The Longreach Group in late 2003. Mark's lead responsibilities at Longreach include firm management, senior relationship driven deal sourcing and execution, investments in the financial services sector, and building the firm's capital base and global networks.

Before co-founding Longreach, Mark served as Chief Executive Officer and President of UBS Securities Japan, Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Investment Banking Management Committee, Head of Japan Investment Banking and as a member of the UBS Global Investment Bank Board. Previous to this role in Japan, Mark headed the UBS Asia-Pacific Financial Institutions Group.

Mark is an Australian citizen, resident in Hong Kong. He holds First Class Honours degrees in Economics (University of Melbourne) and Law (University of Sydney). Mark is a Rhodes Scholar with a Master of Philosophy degree in International Relations (with Distinction) from Oxford University.

Matthew Michelini Head of Asia-Pacific APOLLO GLOBAL MANAGEMENT

Matthew Michelini is Partner, Head of Asia-Pacific at Apollo and a member of the Firm’s Leadership Team. Matt joined Apollo in 2006 in Private Equity and has played a pivotal role in the creation and success of many of Apollo’s largest growth initiatives, including Athene, Hybrid Value, Apollo Dedicated Insurance Program, Natural Resources, and the development of the Financials Group. Matt serves as Investment Chair for Apollo’s Hybrid Value business and on the board of directors of Athene Holding Ltd. and Venerable Holdings, and previously served on the boards of Aleris Corporation, Metals USA, Noranda Aluminum, One Main Financial, and Warrior Met Coal. Previously, Matt was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Lazard Frères & Co.

Nicole Goh Head, Infrastructure Asia ex-China GIC

Nicole Goh joined GIC Infrastructure in 2008. As Head, Infrastructure Asia ex-China, she has investment coverage responsibility for opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region, with prior experience investing in the US and Europe. She represents GIC Infrastructure on the boards of its portfolio companies in the region.

Nicole has a BSc in Mathematics with Statistics for Finance from Imperial College London, and an MSc in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

Oliver Stratton Managing Director ALVAREZ & MARSAL ASIA

Oliver Stratton is a Managing Director for Alvarez & Marsal's Asian practice in Hong Kong. With 30 years of experience in consulting and private equity in Asia, his primary areas of concentration are business strategy, performance improvement, operational turnarounds and M&A. Mr. Stratton has worked with private equity and corporate clients across a range of industries including financial services, telecommunications, consumer goods and retail, industrial products and services, education, transportation and logistics and energy and resources.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Stratton spent 20 years with Bain & Company, including 10 years as a Partner. Mr. Stratton also spent two years as a Managing Director with Candover as part of its Asia leadership team.

In these roles Mr. Stratton has served many of the global, regional and major local country funds operating in Asia. Working with those clients, he has led operational and commercial due diligence and portfolio company performance improvement assignments across a range of industry sectors in Greater China, Korea and Southeast Asia.

Mr. Stratton earned an MA in engineering from Cambridge University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. A British national, Mr. Stratton has been based in Hong Kong since 1988.

Patrick Sixsmith Managing Principal, Private Markets HSBC ALTERNATIVES

Patrick Sixsmith is a Managing Principal in the HAIL Private Markets team and a member of HSBC Alternatives’ Investment Committee. He has a particular focus on managing and expanding the business’ co-investment vertical. He also leads the team’s coverage for North America, Asia, as well as Venture Capital. He started his career in HSBC’s Investment Banking division in 2005 before joining HSBC’s Principal Investments team in 2007, helping to create the team that focused on lower mid-market direct buyouts, becoming a Managing Director and running its direct Private Equity investment programme in UK & Europe and, later, Asia. Patrick represents and has represented HSBC on numerous Company Boards. 

Paul Schrecongost Portfolio Manager ALLIANZ GLOBAL INVESTORS

Paul is a Portfolio Manager with Allianz Global Investors’ Asia Private Credit team. He has over two decades of private credit experience – 16 years of which have been in Asia. Prior to joining AllianzGI, Paul was Head of Structured Lending & Special Situations Legal at Nomura. Paul holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, a M.A. from Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Foreign Service and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Rishi Dua Associate Portfolio Manager AWARE SUPER

Rishi joined the Aware Super Private Equity team in 2019. His experience includes manager research, co-investment assessment, portfolio analysis and investment strategy development. Aware Super is one of Australia's largest superannuation (pension) funds, with more than $150bn in funds under management. Prior to Aware Super, Rishi worked in the Private Equity team at the Future Fund, where he helped manage its private equity portfolio. Rishi started his career in the Corporate Finance team at KPMG primarily focussed on Mergers and Acquisitions. He holds a Bachelor of Laws and Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Chartered Accounting.

Shane Lauf Principal PERMIRA

Shane is a Principal and leads the Portfolio Group in Asia for Permira, where his primary focus is on value creation and due diligence of new investment opportunities from a commercial and operational perspective. Shane has worked on a number of transactions including I-MED, Tricor, Topcast, and EF Kids & Teens. Prior to joining Permira in 2017, Shane worked for KKR Capstone for six years and previously worked with McKinsey and Company in Japan and Australia. Shane holds degrees in Computer Engineering and Japanese Language from the University of Wollongong, Australia, and has an MBA and MS from Stanford University, USA.

Shinichiro Kita Representative Director/ Senior Partner ADVANTAGE PARTNERS

Mr. Kita joined Advantage Partners in 2003 and leads all activities for the Japan Buyout team. Mr. Kita has also directly led many investments including CommunityOne, Katitas, Net Protections, Yaruki Switch Group and Cosmolife. He currently serves as a Director on several investments including Material Group,  Energywith, NFC Holdings, Net Japan and Daiho Industrial.

Prior to joining Advantage Partners, Mr. Kita was at Bain & Company Japan and focused on projects in the auto, finance, telecommunications, food products, trading houses, and healthcare sectors. Mr. Kita holds an undergraduate degree from the Faculty of Economics, the University of Tokyo, and an MBA from University of California, Berkeley.

Stephen Bates Partner, Head of Financial Services ASPAC, Deal Advisory, Singapore KPMG

Stephen leads financial services deal advisory in Singapore and Indonesia and has over 20 years experience in providing advice to clients on their transactions across Europe, the US and in the Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Singapore from London, Stephen led the deal advisory banking capital markets and consumer lending sectors and spent five years building the Financial Services transaction advisory business in Switzerland.

Stephen has significant experience leading transactions in Fintech, Banking, Insurance and Investment management providing advice to clients on M&A including target search, acquisition due diligence, refinancing, vendor assistance and vendor due diligence.

Professional and industry experience 

Advised Altimeter Growth Corp on the largest SPAC merger with Southeast Asia’s super app Grab Holdings Inc

Advised a consortium led by Singapore Life and TPG Capital on the acquisition of Aviva Singapore

Advised a Global bank on its proposed acquisition of Citi Group’s consumer business portfolio across Asia

Advised Allianz Global Investors on its acquisition of PT RHB Asset Management Indonesia from RHB Bank

Advised a confidential PE on its proposed investment in GoTo

Advised SoftBank Ventures on its investment in an e-wallet business in South Korea

Advised a confidential client on its proposed SPAC merger with a financial product comparison platform in Asia

Advised Warburg Pincus on its acquisition of ABDA and ABDA Assistance in Indonesia from Mapfre Insurance Group

Advised Eight Roads on their Series B investment in StashAway

Advised a global VC on its potential investment in a Singapore based robo-advisor

Advised on Ant Financial’s acquisition of HelloPay in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia

Advised Warburg Pincus on their investment in Techcombank

Advised a large global private equity firm on their proposed investment into a new Buku 3 bank which was being planned based on a merger between 2 Buku 2 banks in Indonesia

Advised a Middle Eastern bank on a potential investment into a Buku 3 bank in Indonesia

Sumit Punwani Partner, Corporate Finance, Deal Advisory KPMG

Sumit has more than 20 years of experience in providing M&A advisory services including acquisitions and divestments, capital advisory, strategic and financial advice and project management in multiple financial hubs across Europe and Asia including United Kingdom, Singapore, Indonesia and India. He has significant cross-border experience advising some of the leading MNCs, PEs and SMEs with principal experience on transactions within the Technology, Media, Consumer, Logistics and Financial Services verticals.

Areas of expertise

Mergers and Acquisitions, Capital Raising, Start-up Funding

Educations and Qualifications

• Master of Business Administration – Nanyang Business School, Singapore / ESSEC, France
• Bachelor of Commerce – University of Mumbai, India
• Chartered Accountant, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

T.J. Kono Partner UNISON CAPITAL

T.J. Kono joined Unison Capital in 2002. He has managed a number of investments in Japan since Unison’s first fund, then led Unison’s expansion to Korea as its founding member. Today, he serves as a member of both Japan and Korea Investment Committee. He has been involved in Unison’s investments in Drug Eleven (Japan), Mine-Mart (Japan), UCOM (Japan), Nexcon Technology (Korea), Gong cha (Korea)/Royal Tea Taiwan (Taiwan), and Forbes (Japan). In addition to investment role, he oversees Unison Group’s investor relations functions. Prior to Unison Capital, he worked at Merrill Lynch Japan.

Mr. Kono has a B.S/B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.

Tanu Pandey Senior Reporter INFRALOGIC

Tanu is a Senior Reporter at Infralogic and responsible for the coverage of power/energy sector in Asia for the news and intelligence platform. Based in Singapore, she reports on project financing, fundraising, mergers and acquisitions and writes in-depth news  analysis on the Asian power space amid an ongoing transformation. Before joining the company in 2019, she covered the Private Equity and Sovereign Wealth Funds in Asia for three years and prior to that, she spent a decade as a financial journalist across Malaysia and India. She holds a graduate degree in Commerce & Business Studies from the University of Delhi and MA in Business Journalism. 

Thomas Walenta Senior Investment Officer ASIAN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT BANK (AIIB)

Thomas is Senior Investment Officer at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral financial institution with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia by investing in sustainable infrastructure and other productive sectors. At AIIB, Thomas is responsible for originating, structuring and executing innovative, developmental and profitable debt and equity transactions, including fund investments, across all infrastructure sectors in Asia.

Prior to AIIB, he was an adviser to the German Federal Ministry of Finance to support the establishment of AIIB and advise the German Chief Negotiator on AIIB’s institutional, operational and financial policy framework. Earlier in his career, Thomas worked at KfW Development Bank, where he was responsible for managing equity investments and structuring loans for infrastructure projects in developing countries and emerging markets in Asia, including managing a EUR450-million p.a. infrastructure investment program for China.

Thomas earned a BBA and M.Sc. in International Business Administration from European University Viadrina, Germany and an MBA from Catholic University of Cordoba, Argentina. He is also a CFA charterholder.

Tony Duthie Managing Director, Buyouts and Secure Assets PACIFIC EQUITY PARTNERS

Tony joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2006. Before joining PEP, Tony was a Partner of Bain & Company with over 12 years of consulting experience in Australia, Asia and Europe. Tony received an MBA from INSEAD (Dean’s List) and a BCom from the University of New South Wales.

Yogesh Singh Partner & National Head of Corporate Practice Trilegal.

Yogesh Singh has an illustrious track record of advising clients on M&A, private equity, and corporate finance transactions. He has acted for international corporations, funds, and investors on several marque transactions. Yogesh actively advises foreign and Indian clients on structuring and corporate aspects of their India operations/investments, including compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and strategic employment matters. In the last seven years,
Yogesh has been intensely involved in distressed asset transactions including some first-of-their-kind restructurings/ settlements, fintech, technology, and Defence (contracting, offsets, investment, and policy) matters. In terms of sectors, Yogesh focuses on financial services, ecommerce, TMT, fintech, edutech, energy and infrastructure, manufacturing, real estate, Defence, and hospitality.
Yogesh has advised several international companies on their entry strategy and the Indian regulatory framework with Europe as a focused market. Given his involvement in cutting edge and complex transactions, he has been invited to make policy advocacy representations at various government interactions as well as to conduct trainings for senior judges and senior management of corporations.

CREDENTIALS
▪ Education: National Law Institute University
▪ Admissions: Member, Supreme Court of India and Solicitor England and Wales.