Opening keynote interview
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Speakers keyboard_arrow_downTim Sims AM Co-Founder and Managing Director Pacific Equity Partners
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Lead Sponsors
Pacific Equity Partners
http://www.pep.com.auPEP is Australasia’s largest private markets firm, with A$18 billion AUM across various investment strategies. Since its founding in 1998, PEP has made more than 200 investments including bolt-ons, has engaged in A$54 billion of transactions, including both acquisitions and exits, and has delivered a 28% average Net IRR p.a. across the closed end funds. These results are built on a team-based approach of apprenticeship, long term experience, aligned incentives – and a disciplined investment focus, that has delivered ‘best in class’, consistent results for our investors and partners over the last 27 years. Our long-term investors include the world’s largest and most experienced investment institutions and sovereign wealth funds, as well as private wealth investors. PEP has been the recipient of various industry awards over the past 27 years, including the Firm of the Year Award from the Australian Investment Council (AIC) in 2024 and 2025.
TPG
https://www.tpg.com/TPG is a leading global alternative asset management firm, founded in San Francisco in 1992, with $246 billion of assets under management and investment and operational teams around the world. TPG invests across a broadly diversified set of strategies, including private equity, impact, credit, real estate, and market solutions, and our unique strategy is driven by collaboration, innovation, and inclusion. Our teams combine deep product and sector experience with broad capabilities and expertise to develop differentiated insights and add value for our fund investors, portfolio companies, management teams, and communities.
Asia Series Sponsor
Co-Sponsors
Adams Street Partners
http://www.adamsstreetpartners.comAdams Street Partners is a global private markets investment manager with investments in more than thirty countries across five continents. Adams Street’s 90+ investment professionals focus on five strategies: primary fund partnerships, secondary transactions, co-investments, direct growth equity company investments, and private credit deals. Adams Street strives to generate actionable investment insights across market cycles by drawing on 50 years of private markets experience, proprietary intelligence, and trusted relationships. The firm is 100% employee-owned and has $51 billion in assets under management. Adams Street maintains a worldwide presence with offices in Austin, Beijing, Boston, Chicago, London, Menlo Park, Munich, New York, Seoul, Singapore, and Tokyo.
Anacacia Capital
https://www.anacacia.com.au/Anacacia Capital is a leading Australian private fund manager, including focused on smaller mid-market growth buyouts. The firm has won numerous awards historically including the Australian Investment Council Firm of the Year and Best Small Cap Investment of the Year. Anacacia is raising Anacacia Private Equity IV in 2024 after a successful first close late in 2023.
Anacacia manages >A$800m and invests into established small-medium enterprises that are managing ownership change and growth. The firm’s private equity funds make buyout and control investments into unlisted companies. The firm also manages the synergistic funds that can invest into small listed companies, that helps differentiate Anacacia’s private equity offering to business owners. Anacacia provides strategic insight and capital to outstanding management teams to help businesses achieve better growth and diversification.
Anacacia typically focuses on profitable companies with annual revenues of $20 million to $500 million per annum and has formerly led investments in successful businesses including Appen, Big River, Home Appliances, Lomb Scientific, Rafferty’s Garden and Yumi’s Quality Foods.
Carta
https://carta.com/sg/en/Carta is the agentic ERP for private capital, connecting the entire ecosystem—from GPs and LPs to CEOs, CFOs, employees, and advisors. With software and services built to scale, Carta empowers you to build, invest, and grow with confidence.
Carta’s Fund Administration platform supports 9,000+ funds and SPVs, representing more than $220B in assets under management, with tools designed to enhance the strategic impact of Fund CFOs. Recognized by Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Inc. and Great Places to Work, Carta is transforming how private capital operates.
Crescent Capital Partners
https://www.crescentcap.com.au/Founded in 2000, Crescent Capital Partners is one of the oldest and most successful private equity and alternative asset management firms in Australia. Crescent’s returns typically come from a value-add strategic approach to all investments with a team of 30 investment professionals in its core fund alone.
Crescent is the largest investor in healthcare in Australia with typically 50% of each fund invested in the sector, with the balance in industrial, services, B2B and technology-services sectors. Today Crescent runs a multi fund strategy alongside its core PE fund with a lower mi-market Growth Fund I, a Corporate Loan Credit fund and active Listed Equities fund.
Crescent has specialist consultant teams responsible for each of the related investment strategies with a large team of 45 investment and management professionals.
In its 26 years, Crescent has been a consistent global top quartile investment manager (as measured by Cambridge) in DPI, TVPI and IRR. This success is founded on a well-disciplined investment process as well as a stable partnership group and strong relationships in the Australian financial market.
The strength of our relationships has led us to expand our offering to investors which includes launching a unique Corporate Loan Fund to the institutional and wholesale market as well as an Evergreen PE fund based solely on Crescent strategies.
Our Growth Fund I is a natural extension of our expertise but now into the lower-mid market as well where Crescent has had such success over the years. The same investment process, discipline and IC oversee the investment decisions and management of portfolio companies.
In the Listed Equities market, our investment strategy is aligned with our PE business taking advantage of our analysis in different industry sectors and applying these learnings in a listed environment alongside identifying high quality, high growth investments.
Crescent Capital Partners is proud to support the AVCJ Conference in 2026.
Folklore Ventures
https://www.folklore.vc/Folklore Ventures is a leading Australian early stage VC firm investing in ANZ software and advanced technology startups.
Founded in 2014, Folklore performs in the top decile for all of its funds. With $150m AUM, Folklore has made investments into globally successful companies such as Auror, Wonde and HealthMatch.
Folklore is known for its investment rigour and allocating discipline. As a 'first cheque to forever' VC, Folklore aims to be the first investor into a startup and to compound returns by allocating throughout the investment lifecycle. Its long term focus areas include AI and data networks, robotics and automation, health tech and B2B SaaS.
Integrum
https://www.integrum.usLaunched in 2021 by Tagar Olson, Ursula Burns and Richard Kunzer, Integrum is a New York-based private equity investment firm focused on partnering with technology-enabled services companies in the financial and business services sectors. Leveraging the Integrum team’s deep sector expertise, strong investing and operating experience, and vast relationship networks, Integrum is building a portfolio of high-conviction investments. In partnership with management teams, Integrum aims to accelerate business growth through investments in technology and other forms of innovation, and enhancing access to talent, relationships, and capabilities.
Park Square Capital
https://parksquarecapital.com/Park Square Capital is a leading private credit manager, providing senior debt, mid-market direct loans, junior debt, and structured equity to private equity-backed companies in Europe and the US. Park Square has invested more than $27 billion since 2004, and currently manages over $16 billion of capital on behalf of its investors. Park Square has more than 120 staff, with ten offices including London, New York, Frankfurt, Paris, Stockholm, Seoul, Tokyo, Dallas and Sydney. Park Square was recently recognised as “Best Performing Direct Lender in Europe” by Preqin and “Lender of the Decade in Europe” by PDI.
Siguler Guff
https://www.sigulerguff.com/Siguler Guff is a multi-strategy private markets investment firm which, together with its affiliates, has approximately $18 billion of assets under management. With 30 years of experience investing in private markets, Siguler Guff seeks to generate strong, risk-adjusted returns by focusing opportunistically on market niches. Siguler Guff’s investment products include multi-manager funds, direct investment funds and customized separate accounts targeting specific areas of compelling opportunity. The Firm’s core investment strategies include Small Buyout, Emerging Markets, Opportunistic Credit, Real Estate and Small Business Credit. Siguler Guff’s institutional investment knowledge, sector immersion approach and longstanding relationships provide access to compelling investment opportunities within each of its targeted strategies. Founded in 1991 within PaineWebber, Siguler Guff became an independent firm in 1995. The Firm has served more than 800 institutional clients, including corporate and public employee benefit plans, endowments, foundations, government agencies and financial institutions, and more than 1,000 family office and high net worth investors. Headquartered in New York, Siguler Guff maintains offices in Boston, Houston, West Palm Beach, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo.
Wellington Management
https://www.wellington.com/en/private-equityTracing its history to 1928, Wellington Management is one of the world’s largest independent investment management firms, serving as a trusted adviser to over 3,000 clients in more than 60 countries. The firm manages more than US$1.3 trillion, including US$48+ billion in alternatives. As a private partnership whose only business is investment management, the firm is able to align its long-term views and interests with those of its clients. The firm offers comprehensive investment management capabilities that span nearly all segments of the global capital markets, including equity, fixed income, multi-asset, sustainable investing, and alternative strategies including private assets.
Our private markets platform spans a broad range of capabilities, including venture, growth equity and private credit. Our private markets team includes specialists who draw on backgrounds as entrepreneurs, doctors, and scientists. We tap into the firm’s broad investment capabilities, and believe our reputation, deep industry expertise, and asset size attract a wide range of potential private investments. We invest globally in a wide range of deals across the private market spectrum and are able to invest in small private companies as well as participate in large capital raises.
All figures are for the Wellington Management Group of companies as of 30 September 2025.
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Tim is a founder of Pacific Equity Partners and is a member of the firm’s Operating Committee. Prior to founding PEP, Tim was the Chairman and Managing Director of Bain & Company’s Australasian and African operations and a member of Bain & Company’s Global Executive Committee. Tim has also served on a number of government committees and led national strategy projects. Tim received a BA/MA from Oxford University where he was a Mitsui European Scholar and an MPA from Harvard where he was a Kennedy Scholar. In 2019, Tim was made a member in the general division of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to the community through philanthropic initiatives.
Peter Costello was elected to seven terms as a Member of the Australian House of Representatives and was Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia from March 1996 to December 2007, the longest term of any Treasurer in Australian history.
Mr Costello delivered twelve federal budgets including ten surpluses. During this period Australia’s Sovereign Credit Rating was updated twice to its current AAA rating.
He set up Australia’s system of financial regulation establishing the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and established the Takeovers Panel.
In 2006, after Government debt was eliminated in net terms, Mr Costello established the Australian Future Fund. From its original deposit, the Future Fund has grown to over $260 billion invested in diverse asset classes.
Mr Costello served as Chairman of the Future Fund for 10 years.
Mr Costello has served on the IMF Committee, and as Chairman of the Global Group of 20 Finance Ministers & Central Bankers (G-20).
After leaving politics in 2009, Mr Costello joined a number of international and domestic boards and was chair of the Independent Advisory Board to the World Bank.
Mr Costello was Chairman of the Nine Entertainment Corporation the largest Australian owned media company with television, radio, publishing and streaming operations for 8 years.