AVCJ Private Equity Forum Australia & New Zealand 2024
Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney and Online
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Alicia joined the Future Fund in 2019 as the Head of Private Equity. She was appointed Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Private Markets in June 2022 where she held responsibility for managing the strategy for the Private Markets portfolio including Private Equity, Property, Credit, and Infrastructure and Timberland. In October 2023 Alicia’s role expanded to oversee all physical asset classes.
She has over 23 years' experience in the financial services sector including 17 years at MLC. She is also Chair of the Australian Investment Council Board and a Non-Executive Director on the Tilt Group Board.
Alicia holds a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology Sydney, is a CFA charter holder, and has completed the General Management Programme at INSEAD.
Stephen Halmarick is Chief Economist and Head of Global Economic & Markets Research at Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). CBA is the largest financial services company in Australia. Stephen was appointed to the Chief Economist role in April 2020 - having been the Head of the Global Economic & Markets Research team since January 2018. As Chief Economist and Head of Global Economic & Markets Research, Stephen is responsible for the team of economists that cover Australian Economics, International Economics, Foreign Exchange, Mining, Energy and Agricultural Commodities and Sustainable Economics research. Stephen and his team work to ensure that customers and clients are well informed and have a strong understanding of key macroeconomic factors in Australia and globally and their impact on select financial markets. Stephen is also the key spokesperson to clients and media on macroeconomic themes and a broad range of financial market issues. The Global Economic & Markets Research team produces a number of economic publications. These include short research notes on economic and market developments, presentation packs, longer thought leadership pieces on key structural issues, and a number of regular reports on key countries and regions of the global economy. The team also regularly appears in public forums and holds meeting with key clients both in Australia and globally. Publishing research on key Sustainable Economic issues in to is increasingly an area of focus.
Stephen HalmarickStephen has over 38 years’ experience as a financial markets economist and is widely regarded as one of the best economic communicators and presenters in Australia. Prior to his role in CBA, Stephen was Chief Economist for Colonial First State Global Asset Management from March 2009 to September 2017. Earlier in his career, Stephen worked for Westpac, SBC Australia, the Nomura Research Institute and from 1994-2009 the Salomon Smith Barney Citibank group, where he was the Managing Director Co-Head of Economic and Market Analysis. Stephen holds a Bachelor of Economics from Macquarie University, a graduate diploma from the Securities Institute of Australia (SIA) and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), and Stephen is also AFMA accredited. Stephen was Chairman of the Australian Business Economists (ABE) – the peak professional body for financial market economists in Australia from 2008-2017 and has been on the ABE Executive Committee for over 25 years. He is a Life Member of the ABE. In March 2016 Stephen was elected as a Member Director on the Commonwealth Bank Group Staff Superannuation Fund Board. He was re-elected to this position in November 2019 and granted an extension in November 2023. Stephen lives in Sydney with his wife – and their ‘blended’ family of six children.
Steve is a Founding Partner of Potentum Partners. Formed in 2019 by senior members of Future Fund’s private equity team, Potentum Partners offers a new way for institutional investors to access and build world-class private equity programs.
Prior to Potentum Partners, Steve spent 11 years as Head of Private Equity and Investment Committee member at Future Fund, Australia’s sovereign wealth fund. He led the team that created Future Fund’s private equity strategy, building a A$27.5bn investment program that returned over 17% p.a. (hedged, in Australian Dollars) over 10 years. As an Investment Committee member, he was involved in the whole of portfolio strategic and tactical decision making.
Steve has over 30 years of private equity and corporate finance experience across Europe, Australia and New Zealand. His previous experience includes establishing a private equity program at the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Co-Head of ANZ Private Equity, financial sponsors with SG Hambros in London and corporate finance at Ernst & Young in London and Auckland.
Steve is a graduate of the University of Auckland and holds a Masters of Commerce in Finance.
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.
Gillian joined JBWere in May 2019 and is Head of Alternative Investments and Responsible Investing (RI), in addition to being an Executive Director of the firm. As Head of Alternatives, Gillian leads the Alternatives strategy, investing selection and execution across Private Equity, Private Debt, Real Assets including Infrastructure and Property and Uncorrelated Assets. Gillian also leads the further expansion of JBWere’s approach to Responsible Investing spanning ESG, ethical/impact investing, and stewardship of capital. Prior to joining JBWere, Gillian held senior multi-asset global investment and structuring roles on trading floors, working across Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, within Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) and Bank of Montreal (BMO) Capital Markets. Gillian was also the global structuring sustainability lead for capital markets in both SCB and BMO. Gillian’s roles have included leading sales and structuring for SCB’s Alternative Asset Group (AUM +USD 2bio) in London, in addition to leading and designing multi-asset investment solutions across Fixed Income, Equities, FX, Alternatives, Credit, Commodities and Responsible Investments (RI) for Institutional, Private Bank and High Net Worth clients.
INSEAD Executive Education (TGM, 2022)
Bachelor of Commerce, University of Queensland
Bachelor of Business (Management), University of Queensland
Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) Australia
Capital Markets Programme, Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments (CISI)
UK Diploma of Investment Advice (Qualified UK Financial Adviser), Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments (CISI)
Ben Hart is a Partner and Head of Investor Relations (Asia) at Adams Street Partners, where he focuses on the firm’s institutional and private wealth relationships across the region. Ben is a 25-year Asia resident with over 20 years’ experience in the venture-backed tech and private equity markets.
Prior to joining Adams Street, Ben worked at Swiss-based private equity firm Capital Dynamics, where he served as Managing Director and COO, Asia, overseeing the firm’s business development efforts in Asia and North America.
Before joining Capital Dynamics, Ben spent over a decade working with VC and PE-backed tech firms in China and across Asia on their market development strategies. He served as Managing Director, Asia, at Aircom International, and also held senior positions at Convergys Corporation, Alliance Digital, Inc., and the JM Network.
Education:
University of Colorado, BBA
Investment/operational experience: 21 years
Languages: English, Mandarin Chinese
Darragh co-leads the alternative investment research for Escala Partners encompassing private markets, real assets and hedge funds and leads the firm’s responsible investment research. He is a member of the firm’s investment committee and approved product list committee. Prior to joining Escala in 2019 he held positions with Prudential International carrying out fund due diligence across the platforms funds and has held positions in investment banking, private wealth, and trading in Ireland. Darragh holds a BSc in Business & Management from Technological University of Dublin, has completed the CFA Certificate in ESG Investing and is a CFA Charterholder.
Irene Koh, Executive Director, Ms. Koh joined JP Morgan Asset Management Private Equity Group in 2008. Prior to joining the Group, Ms. Koh was with JPMorgan's real estate structured finance group, originating and structuring commercial mortgage backed securities for REITs in Asia Pacific ex-Japan. Previously, Ms. Koh was a senior application engineer with Soluris Inc. She holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and a MS in Financial Engineering from the National University of Singapore.
The Private Equity Group is one of the largest global private equity investment managers with assets comprising of over 350 partnerships, direct and secondary investments.
John Lee is a Partner responsible for the Asia business of Lexington Partners. Based in Hong Kong, he is primarily engaged in the origination and evaluation of secondary purchases of private equity investments in Asia.
Prior to joining Lexington in 2014, Mr. Lee was a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions team at Morgan Stanley.
Mr. Lee graduated from Princeton University with an A.B. in Economics.
Kyle joined Perpetual Private in July 2014 and leads the 20 person Investment Research team. Perpetual Private has $17bn of Funds Under Advice, including $7.5bn in discretionary multi-manager funds and $5bn in direct Australian equities across investment and superannuation funds and platforms.
Kyle is responsible for the overall investment solutions of the firm, managing teams of highly experienced investment professionals across capital markets research, asset allocation, manager research, stock analysis and portfolio construction advice, as well as portfolio analytics and investment insights for client portfolios. Prior to this role, he was General Manager - Research & Operations for Perpetual Investments, where he managed key ratings house relationships and maximised rating outcomes across all funds and asset classes.
Kyle earned his Bachelor of Accounting with Distinction from the University of Technology, Sydney (1997). He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, Chartered Alternatives Investment Analyst designation and is a Certified Practising Accountant.
Rachael is a Portfolio Manager at MLC Private Equity, where she leads investments into Australian private equity funds and co-investments alongside private equity funds globally. MLC has one of the most long established private equity programs in Australia, having invested consistently in the asset class for over 25 years. Rachael has over 17 years of experience in Australia, the United States and New Zealand, working throughout the private equity value chain, including nine years of investing directly in mid-market opportunities at private equity funds L Catterton and Ironbridge Capital. She has spent time within portfolio companies in operational roles to accelerate growth initiatives. Rachael was formerly an investment banker advising Macquarie Group’s private equity and infrastructure funds in New York and Auckland. She holds Law and Commerce degrees and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Golden Vision Capital (Singapore) is a new Single Family Office set up in Aug 2021 to make PE and VC direct investments in Southeast Asia, leveraging on the family and team’s strong business connections in the region. It also invests in leading PE Funds, and co-invests alongside them. Its CEO Sean Low, CFA is an industry veteran with 25 years of deal sourcing, investment and business development experience, including 17 years in the PE & Infrastructure department of GIC, Singapore's SWF, where he helps to oversee GIC's PE, Infra, Private Debt & VC investments in US, Europe and Asia at different times, and took part in some of GIC’s landmark deals in each region. He played a leading role in expanding GIC’s private debt program, and last served as an active member in GIC Credit Business group which help review GIC’s overall credit investment strategy across public and private markets. Sean was also senior advisor to Yangzijiang Financial Holdings Limited (ww.YZJFIN.com), an investment management Firm listed on SGX with NAV in excess S$4b. He advised its Investment Committee on PE and Private Credit portfolio construction, funds and deals selection and risk management.
Sean began his career in Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), after he was awarded the EDB Scholarship in 1993. He served first as Assistant Head of InfoComms & Media group, and then as Director of Chicago Centre. Sean currently chairs the Investment Committee at CFA Singapore, and was elected the Treasurer of Singapore's VC & PE Association in 2021. He graduated from Trinity College, University of Cambridge with BA (1st Class Honours), MA and M Eng. (Honours). He completed National Service in Singapore as a commander of a Brigade Reconnaissance Team in the Singapore Army.
Andrew is a Managing Director of Credit Suisse Wealth Management Australia. As Chief Investment Officer, he is responsible for developing discretionary and advisory investment strategies across multi asset class portfolios for clients in Australia. He leads the team responsible for delivering investment solutions to clients. Andrew has been investing on behalf of clients for over 26 years and was the founder of the Credit Suisse Discretionary Portfolio Management service in Australia, which has consistently delivered strong performance for clients. He has managed single and multi-asset class portfolios for major superannuation funds, institutions, ultra-high net worth individuals, not for profits and private clients and is Chairman of the Australian Investment Committee. Andrew is a Chartered Accountant, and holds an Economics degree from the University of Sydney and a Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Finance and Securities Institute of Australia.
Nick is based in London and is responsible for the management of the Asia and Europe portfolios. Prior to joining MetLife, Nick was Founding Partner at Integrity Capital Partners, a Beijing-based Private Equity firm focused on making cross-border direct private equity investments between China and Europe. Previously he was Vice President in the Beijing office of Schroder Adveq, the PE investment arm of Schroders PLC, focusing on primary, secondary fund investments and co-investments. Nick began his career in Schroder Adveq's Swiss headquarters where he covered European investments. Nick holds an MBA from HKUST Business School, Hong Kong, an MPhil in Finance from Cambridge University, UK, and a BEng in Electronic Engineering from Cardiff University, UK. He is a CFA and CAIA charterholder. In 2023, Nick was included on PEI’s annual 40 under 40: Future Leaders of Private Equity list.
Martin Randall is responsible for delivering and maintaining LGT Crestone’s investment offering across hedge funds, private equity and real assets. Engaging with local and global alternative asset firms, Martin’s focus is to source, perform due diligence and structure alternative investment solutions for Crestone’s client base. He is also a member of the LGT Crestone Investment Committee and further supports LGT Crestone’s investment offering across separately managed accounts, impact investments and structured products.
Martin joined UBS Wealth Management Australia Ltd in 2014 and transitioned to LGT Crestone at launch in 2016. Prior to that, Martin worked in the UK for EFG Private Bank as Head of Structured Products, having started his career at Kleinwort Benson Private Bank (now Kleinwort Hambros), developing derivative and tax-based structured products for high-net-worth investors. Martin holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of London.
Glenn Riley is the Head of Private Markets at Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, which provides superannuation services and products for Australian government employees and members of the Australian Defence Force, with funds under management of A$65 billion. Glenn has responsibility for leading CSC’s Private Markets program, which covers all of CSC’s illiquid asset investments across private equity, real estate, and infrastructure.
Glenn joined CSC in 2008 and has 28 years of diverse experience across private markets investment management, real estate funds management, and banking.
Ms. Tavill is the global head of responsible investment, leading all ESG and impact initiatives across all businesses and investment strategies at StepStone Group, a global private markets investment firm focused on providing customized investment solutions and advisory and data services to some of the most sophisticated investors in the world. With more than US$548 billion of private markets allocations, including over US$127 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2021, StepStone covers the spectrum of opportunities in private markets across the globe. Ms. Tavill is also a member of the private equity team.
Prior to StepStone, Ms. Tavill was responsible for AMP Capital’s global alternative investment platform that included private equity, infrastructure and real assets. Before that she spent five years at Van Eyk Research in Sydney, the last four as head of research. Before moving to Australia, she was an executive director at Goldman Sachs Investment Management, responsible for their UK small-and mid-cap portfolios.
Ms. Tavill received a MSc in finance and economics from the London School of Economics, in addition to a BBS with honors in economics and honors in finance from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Anand has over two decades of experience across India and Australia in areas such as investment management, finance and consulting, of which, 12+ years have been in investment management in India. Through his career, Anand has been involved in several direct and fund investments in sectors such as roads, power, healthcare, renewable energy and real estate.
He joined NIIF in 2018 and is currently the Managing Partner for NIIF’s Private Markets Business. At NIIF, he is responsible for developing and executing the strategy of the NIIF Private Markets Fund, which is diversified fund investing into various sectors and strategies through third party fund managers.
Prior to joining NIIF in March 2018, Anand was a senior member of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) team in India for about 10 years. He was part of the core team that established MIRA’s infrastructure funds management business in India in 2008. During his tenure with MIRA, in addition to his involvement with investments and his role on the Investment Committee of the India dedicated fund, Anand held many roles including head of finance, head of operations and an active role in fundraising for MIRA’s India fund and a broader Asia fund.
Before MIRA, Anand worked with KPMG for over seven years in India and Australia, in the audit and financial advisory services divisions. During this period, Anand primarily worked with large clients in the consumer, industrials, pharma and media and entertainment sectors. In the early part of his career, Anand has also worked with Universal Music Group in Mumbai as their Finance Manager for the India business.
Anand holds a Bachelor of Commerce and is an Indian Chartered Accountant. He has alsocompleted his Certified Public Accountancy (US).
Stephen joined QIC and the Private Equity team in 2008. As a Principal, Stephen established the office in San Francisco and led the team focusing on all North American investment strategies, including venture capital, buyouts, co-investments for 10 years before becoming Head of Private Equity and relocating to Australia in 2020. Stephen is a member of the Private Equity Investment and Management Committees and well as QIC Executive Commitee.
Stephen was very involved in the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA), the global industry body for institutional investors in Private Equity and was the Vice Chair of ILPA for a number of years along with the founding Chair of the Industry Affairs Committee
Previously Stephen was Head of Global Private Equity at MLC Ltd, focused on global buyouts. He also worked at Lend Lease Corporation working on Infrastructure investment and Project Finance and previous to this worked at Schroders Australia focusing on Project Financing. He has also spent time Deloitte and Haskins & Sells in a Tax Advisory role.
Kathryn Young is Head of Investments for Cambooya Pty Ltd, which is one of Australia’s longest-running family offices. In that role she guides investment selection and portfolio construction across a wide range of assets, both listed and unlisted. She has more than 15 years of investment experience in Australia and the United States. She spent much of that time in manager research for Morningstar, ending her tenure there as Director of Manager Research Ratings, Aus/NZ. She completed her MBA at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and is a CFA Charterholder.
Michael Blickstead is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group based in Sydney and Head of Australia / New Zealand Private Equity.
Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Blickstead was a Division Director / Managing Director and Head of Principal Finance Asia Pacific for Macquarie Group where he invested across the capital structure. Prior to that, he was an Investment Director at Archer Capital, one of Australia’s leading domestic private equity firms. Mr. Blickstead started his career in the Private Equity Group at Goldman Sachs in New York and London.
Mr. Blickstead received a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude in Economics, from Harvard University as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School.
At Navis, Mr Bloy leads investment teams in making, monitoring and exiting investments, sits on Navis’ Investment Committee and sits on the boards and/or executive committees of several Navis portfolio companies.
Prior to co-founding Navis, Mr Bloy worked at Boston Consulting Group in Asia from 1989 to 1999 after spending 3 years with Bain & Co. In London.
He holds a BA Hons degree from University College, London and an MBA from INSEAD, France.
Tim Burroughs is managing editor of Asian Venture Capital Journal, having joined the publication in May 2011. He is responsible for all editorial content put out under the AVCJ brand, including Asian Venture Capital Journal, AVCJtv, AVCJ Awards and AVCJ.com. Tim previously spent five years at China Economic Review, serving as editor-in-chief and then editorial director. Located in Greater China since 2003, during which time he has lived in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong, Tim has been a China-based contributor for publications including The Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, BBC and China Daily. Prior to moving to China, he trained and worked as a journalist in the UK. He was honored at the Society of Publishers in Asia awards in 2007, 2008 and 2010, and at the State Street Institutional Press Awards - Asia in 2012.
Mr. Chae is a Managing Director of Investor Relations at L Catterton. Prior to joining L Catterton, he was a Principal, Client Relations at IFC Asset Management Company, where he was responsible for fundraising and investor relations activities across various alternative asset classes in the Asia Pacific region. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director within the Alternative Investments Group at PineBridge Investments in Tokyo and Singapore. Mr. Chae has over 25 years of relevant experience and has held several other senior positions at global investment firms including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore.
Mr. Chae graduated with honours from the University of Rochester with a BA in Economics and Japanese.
Shane Chesson is Founder and Partner of Openspace Ventures (formerly NSI Ventures), a Singapore-headquartered VC focused on Series A and B investments in Southeast Asia-based technology companies. Selected Openspace investments overseen by Mr. Chesson include Go-Jek, Chope, Tradegecko, CXA, Topica, Oway, HaloDoc, Sale Stock and Pathao. Mr. Chesson was previously Managing Director and Co-Head (Technology Investment Banking, of Citigroup Asia-Pacific.
Mr. Chesson has an MBA with distinction from INSEAD Singapore where he was a recipient of the IAA Asian Campus scholarship.
Alister is the founder and Managing Partner of Folklore Ventures, an Australian venture capital firm with three top-decile funds under management that invests in ANZ founders building global technology companies. Alister has over 15 years’ experience as an investor, advisor and founder of technology companies.
Kylie Frazer is a co-founder and partner of Flying Fox Ventures, an early-stage investment firm supporting Australian and New Zealand founders with global ambition. Flying Fox has over 50 companies in its portfolio and has enabled hundreds of folks to start or turbocharge their investment journeys. Kylie brings empathy to the founder experience, having founded two technology businesses. She has almost two decades of experience as a corporate transactions lawyer (M&A, capital raisings, and IPOs) and is a capable company director.
Frank Heckes joined EQT Partners in October 2020 and is a partner in the EQT Private Capital Asia team.
Prior to joining EQT Partners, Frank spent ten years at Archer Capital in Sydney, where he was a Partner and member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Previously, he spent five years in the private equity team of TPG Capital in London and commenced his career in the Investment Banking division of Credit Suisse First Boston in London and Melbourne. From 2016 until 2019 he also served as a Director for Australia’s peak private capital industry body, the Australian Investment Council.
Frank graduated from the University of Melbourne with Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degrees.
Fiona Holyoake is a Partner at Tasman Capital. Her Investment, Industry and Transaction experience spans energy, technology, infrastructure, financial services and real estate. She has been a Portfolio Manager and Investee Board Director in Private Equity, and Venture Capital funds as well as done deals across Asia, USA and Australia in Corporate M&A and Strategy roles for Deutsche Bank and Origin Energy.
Going from “black to green”, her first energy deal was the sale and refinancing of Yallourn Power Station in the infrastructure fund at DB Capital Partners. Prior to Tasman, Fiona was a Managing Director at PwC and advised domestic and international corporates, instos and state-owned entities on investments in the energy transition, renewables, clean-tech, carbon market, circular economy, and transmission infrastructure sectors.
Stephanie Hui is head of Private and Growth Equity in Asia Pacific, co-head of Asia Pacific Private Investing and global co-head and co-chief investment officer of Growth Equity within Goldman Sachs Asset Management. She serves on the Partnership Committee, Asia Pacific Management Committee, Asset Management Corporate Investment Committee, Asset Management Growth Investment Committee, Asset Management Sustainable Investing Group (SIG) Investment Committee, Global Inclusion and Diversity Committee and Asia Pacific Inclusion and Diversity Committee. She is also on the Board of Advisors of Launch With GS, Goldman Sachs’ $1 billion investment strategy grounded in the belief that diverse teams drive strong returns.
Stephanie initially joined Goldman Sachs in 1995 as an analyst. She worked in the Principal Investment Area in New York and then transferred to Hong Kong in 1997. Stephanie left Goldman Sachs in 1998 to attend graduate school, rejoined the firm as an associate in 2000 and became an executive director in 2003. She was named managing director in 2006 and partner in 2010.
Stephanie is a member of the Board of Trustees of Asia Society, the Board of Governors of the China Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, the Board of Directors of Save the Children Hong Kong and Honorary Trustees of The Women's Foundation.
Stephanie earned an AB in Biology, summa cum laude, from Harvard College in 1995 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2000.
Tom Humphrey is a Partner with Blackbird Ventures, a venture capital firm supercharging Australia and New Zealand's most wild and ambitious founders right from the beginning.
Since 2012, Blackbird has raised $2.5B in funds and invested in over 120 companies including Canva, Zoox, SafetyCulture, and Culture Amp.
Prior to investing, Tom spent 8 years in operations. He was the COO of OurDeal, a D2C ecommerce company which grew to 80 people and exited to News Corp in 2011 returning over 4x to investors. He then moved San Francisco with his sister to launch Kanopy, a B2B video streaming platform which exited to KKR in 2020 returning 13x to investors. Immediately prior to Blackbird, Tom was a Partner at US-based Access Ventures.
Geoff Hutchinson is a Managing Director & Partner and the Head of Private Equity for Australia and New Zealand at Carlyle. Based in Sydney, Mr. Hutchinson joined Carlyle in 2023 and is responsible for leading the investment advisory team and overseeing investments across the firm’s priority sectors in consumer, healthcare, technology and financial services across Australia and New Zealand.
Mr. Hutchinson has over 15 years of private equity industry experience and brings with him deep expertise in dealmaking and value creation for portfolio companies. He joined Carlyle from Morrison & Co, where he was Co-Head for Australia and New Zealand. Prior to that, he was Managing Director at Pacific Equity Partners where he led and executed multiple market-leading private equity deals across the consumer, healthcare, education and business services sectors.
Mr. Hutchinson has significant experience serving on both private and public company boards. He also previously worked at Bain & Company in Sydney, London and Johannesburg for 10 years, where he advised companies spanning the FMCG, retail, industrials and telecommunications sectors on business and operational strategies.
He holds a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne, and an MBA from INSEAD.
Matthew Koertge is a Managing Partner of Telstra Ventures. Telstra Ventures manages over A$1.3B FUM with a team based in Australia and the USA which has invested in 90 companies around the world of which 34 have achieved liquidity events so far, delivering 15 Unicorns, including 4 of which are Decacorns. Since its inception in 2011, Telstra Ventures has generated more than A$630M of revenue for its portfolio companies across 1,600 customers. Matthew has more than 20 years experience in the venture capital industry including leadership positions at Deutsche Bank Capital Partners, Macquarie Bank and Accede Venture Partners and he has worked with around 200 private equity backed companies including many successful acquisitions and IPOs. Prior to this, Matthew started his career as a software/hardware design engineer and project manager at Fujitsu. Matthew holds degrees in Engineering, Law and Business Administration and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Richard Kunzer is a Founding Partner of Integrum Holdings and member of the Investment Committee.
Previously, Richard was a Partner and Co-Head of Investor Relations for the transatlantic private investment firm BC Partners, based in New York, which he joined in 2009. Whilst at BC Partners, Richard spearheaded and was involved in the raising of over $33 billion in equity and debt capital across funds, co-investments and separately managed accounts.
Richard has led or was involved in the syndication of almost $10 billion in equity and debt co-investment in over 20 companies across the TMT, business and financial services, healthcare, consumer and retail and industrial sectors.
Other companies he previously worked at include Credit Suisse in New York and London, Paribas, and Singer & Friedlander in London, where he helped facilitate the sale of the bank to another financial services institution.
Richard has strong links across the global investor and financial sponsors community globally where he is close to senior decision makers to these organizations.
Before working in finance, Richard spent four years in the British Army as a Captain in an Armored Reconnaissance regiment. Postings included Canada and Germany, as well as an active-duty tour of Bosnia.
Originally from Newcastle upon Tyne in the north of England, Richard is a U.S. and British Citizen and has lived in New York since 2004.
He holds a B.A. Honours degree from University College London.
Ken Licence joined Principle in 2009 and was appointed to the role of Managing Director in December 2010. Mr. Licence has over 25 years’ financial services experience across a range of investment strategies including property, private equity and infrastructure. He has held senior management positions with Lend Lease, Deutsche Asset Management, and CP2, assisting major domestic and international institutional clients.
Mr. Licence has been a Board Member of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (NSW) and holds a Bachelor\ of Commerce from Griffith University and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Queensland.
Maggie is Mergermarket’s Australia Bureau Chief, leading a team of journalists across Australia and New Zealand to write about corporate growth strategies, M&A deals, PE buyouts, cross-border M&A intelligence, as well as data-backed analysis and trend pieces.
Working closely with her colleagues around world, she has been leading the Australian bureau’s cross-border coverage, particularly between Australia and Asia. She also acts as a coordinator on the ground in Australia to facilitate cross-product collaboration between Mergermarket and other sister publications under Acuris, including DealReporter, Inframation and PaRR.
She previously worked at The Australian and Reuters, starting her Australian journalism career in the Press Gallery in Canberra. Maggie has been based in Sydney since 2013.
A market-leading M&A lawyer, Sandy acts for both corporate and private equity clients across the globe on cross-border public and private mergers and acquisitions, foreign investment, equity raisings, buy-backs and restructurings.
She also advises on ASIC and ASX regulatory work, foreign investment regulations and corporate governance issues.
Sandy has consistently been listed as a leading lawyer by legal directories and publications including Chambers and Partners and Best Lawyers. In 2022 she was named Dealmaker of the Year in the Women in Law Awards, and in 2020 she was named Dealmaker of the Year in both the Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards and Women in Law Awards.
She is a guest lecturer at UNSW Law School in the subject of Takeovers and Capital Markets, and also lectures in Sydney University’s Masters of Law subject Takeovers and Reconstructions. She is the Takeovers and Acquisitions and Fundraising for Securities editor for the Halsburys Laws of Australia guide and is also a member of the Corporations Committee of the Law Council of Australia.
In 2021, Sandy was appointed by the Treasurer to the Takeovers Panel for a three year term.
Kelly is the Founder of Skye Capital Advisory, she is one of the most progressive and respected senior debt advisory professionals in the Australasian market, having raised ~$100bn of debt capital in Australian and international markets.
Kelly is considered a market leader in developing funding solutions and providing financial advice to corporates and private equity firms, including specialist advice on business transformation strategies to effect change, drive profit and stimulate growth. Recent market leading transactions include Allegro funds acquisition of Toll, acquisition financing of Gull NZ, first social loan in Australia for APM employment services and the recent acquisition of retail zoo (boost/Betty’s burgers).
Chester Moynihan is a founding Partner of Allegro Funds. Mr. Moynihan has almost 30 years’ experience in private equity investing, turnaround and restructuring, corporate advisory and executive management.
Allegro is currently investing its fourth fund of $750m and has ~$4 billion in AUM and targets transformation style investment opportunities in Australia and New Zealand. Allegro Funds have won a number of awards including the Australian Investment Council Firm of the Year and Mid-Cap Investment of the Year for Best & Less Group in 2022, the AVCJ Operational Value Add award for Best & Less Group and the AIC Diversity and Inclusion award in 2019.
Prior to Allegro Mr. Moynihan worked at Permira Advisers in London, Gresham Private Equity in Sydney and KPMG in both New Zealand and South Africa.
Mr. Moynihan is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has a Bachelor of Commerce degree with post-graduate honours from the University of Natal, South Africa. Mr. Moynihan also holds an Investment Management Certificate from IMRO, London and has completed the IPAA course, Advanced Insolvency Law & Practice II, from the University of Southern Queensland.
Mr. Moynihan is currently on the boards of Gull New Zealand, Perth Radiological Clinics, Questas Group, Pizza Hut Australia and the Australian Investment Council.
Navleen Prasad is a corporate executive with more than 25 years’ experience working in financial and professional services. Most recently she worked for Macquarie Group where, over 19 years, she held roles primarily in Corporate Affairs, including leading their Government and External Relations function. Prior to Macquarie, Navleen held client-facing roles in the taxation consulting divisions of Deloitte and PwC.
Navleen has extensive experience across the spectrum of sectors making up the Australian economy, particularly financial services, infrastructure, energy and decarbonisation, commodities, and agriculture. She brings her expertise in government, public policy and reputation to help businesses make decisions that have strong commercial and public outcomes.
Matt Robinson - Managing Director - Buyout and Secure Assets
Matt joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2009. Prior to joining PEP, he was a consultant with Bain & Company in Australia. Matt was an Innovation Scholar at Macquarie University where he received a Bachelor of Commerce (Actuarial Studies) and was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Commendation for Academic Excellence.
Jeremy Samuel is the founder and Managing Director of Anacacia Capital.
Anacacia manages >$800million investing into leading small-medium enterprises. It is currently raising Anacacia Private Equity IV, focused on Australasian lower mid-market growth buyouts. Anacacia has won numerous awards including the Australian Investment Council Firm of the Year.
Jeremy is a non-executive chair of Anacacia portfolio company Sureway. He was the former lead director for Anacacia's successful investments including: Appen, Big River, Home Appliances, Lomb Scientific, Rafferty's Garden and Yumi's Quality Foods.
Jeremy holds an MBA from Yale University School of Management and Arts/Law degrees from the University of NSW.
Nick Speer is a Partner and Head of Australia & New Zealand at Affinity Equity Partners, responsible for the Firm’s activities in Australasia. With over 20 years of finance experience, of which 18 have been in Private Equity, Mr Speer has a successful track record investing through cycles and across a range of sectors, including healthcare, consumer, software and business services.
Prior to the Affinity, he was a Managing Partner at The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm, where he was instrumental in building the platform in Australia and New Zealand. Prior to his 9 years at Riverside, he was an Executive Director at Australia-based private equity firm Catalyst Investment Managers between 2005 and 2014.
Mr Speer holds a Program for Leadership Development degree from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors in Finance) from The University of Melbourne.
Joel Thickins is a Co-Managing Partner for TPG Capital Asia and Chairman of Capital Asia Investment Committee. TPG’s Asia business, founded in 1994, is one of the most experienced and established Asia Pacific private equity businesses, currently managing approximately US$19 billion in assets.
Joel is the current Chairman of Greencross Limited, Australia and New Zealand’s largest pet wellness and vets platform and Invocare, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore’s leading funeral service, cemeteries and crematoriums. Joel also sits on the Board for clinical research organisation Novotech Health Holdings and iNova Pharmaceuticals. Joel has previously served on the boards of Made Group, one of Australia’s largest healthy food and beverage businesses, Funlab, Australia's premiere creator of competitive socialising experiences, Ingham’s and Accolade Wines.
Joel received a Master of Business Administration, Corporate Finance, at the Melbourne Business School and Managerial Communications from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2000, and an MBA from the University of Melbourne in 2004.
Background
Andrew has 23 years of experience with KPMG principally focused on major IPO and corporate M&A transaction deal execution and project management in multiple major locations including London, New York, Sydney and Singapore.
His principal sector experience is on transactions in the Private Equity and Services sectors.
Andrew has acted as Lead Partner for KPMG on more than 350 significant transactions with an aggregate deal value of more than $150 billion. He has led many of the more complex and demanding projects KPMG has been involved with in Asia over the last ten years.
Professional and industry experience
Private Equity: As Head of Private Equity, Andrew has led projects with most leading financial sponsors including KKR, Blackstone, CVC, Carlyle, TPG, Northstar, CHAMP, CHAMP Ventures, L Capital, Catalyst, TA Associates, Goldman Sachs PIA, TH Lee, and Macquarie Bank Principal Investments.
Complex transactions: Andrew has led the project management and due diligence for many landmark public and private transactions including KKR’s acquisition of Goodpack (SGX), the Seven / Westrac Merger, KKRs acquisition of GenesisCare, the CPPIB acquisition of Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group, Macquarie Media Group IPO, DUET’s IPO, AUSTAR’s refinancing, the global consortium acquisition and listing of Dyno Nobel, the global consortium acquisition of Boart Longyear, the consortium acquisition of the DBNGP, the acquisition by AGL of both Southern Hydro and Powerdirect.
Direct / co-investments: Andrew has assisted SWF, major pension funds and fund of funds on direct or co-investments including CPPIB, Temasek, GIC, Ontario Teachers, CalPERS, CalSTRS and HarbourVest.
Location experience: His major location experience include: London (5 Years), Sydney (13 Years) , New York (2 Years) and Singapore. In addition he has led transaction teams in across South East Asia, China, Japan, India, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Hong Kong.
Georgina Varley is a Managing Director at Adamantem Capital. Prior to joining Adamantem Capital, Georgina worked in private equity as an Investment Director at Archer Capital (2017-2018) and an Investment Director at Arowana International (2013-2016). She also worked at Macquarie Group (Sydney and London) from 2006-2013 in investment banking and principal investment. Georgina sits on the board of Retail Zoo and is Chair of Climate Friendly.
Georgina holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Sydney.
As KPMG Australia’s Head of ESG Due Diligence practice, Julie provides her clients with critical insights on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks and value creation opportunities which can seal or break a deal. The way a target company handles ESG issues can affect long-term performance and valuation and the monetary value of identifying risks and upsides related to ESG at the pre-signing stage makes ESG due diligence critical.
She has been advising publicly listed and large private clients across all sectors on ESG strategy, reporting and assurance, in Australia and internationally, for over 15 years and has worked across all parts of the investment lifecycle.
She understands how the effective management of environmental and social issues such as GHG emissions, climate risk, modern slavery and circularity, combined with transparent reporting will play an increasing role in helping companies succeed.
Julie believes the quality of ESG data and information should be investment-grade and akin to financial information to enable investors to make critical investment decisions. Focus on financial analysis alone represents a shrinking percentage of the information that the market considers important and over the past decade, there has been a significant shift towards non-financial analysis being used to uncover risks and opportunities.
Julie was the co-author of KPMG Australia’s Impact Plan and KPMG’s bi-annual thought leadership publication Sustainability Reporting Survey that explores global and Australian trends in sustainability reporting.
Kristin has been investing in early- and growth-stage companies for 18 years, as a director at private equity firm CHAMP Ventures, as a director of the CEFC's Clean Energy Innovation Fund, and now as Managing Partner at climate tech firm Virescent Ventures. She has invested across a range of industries including climate tech, education, industrial services and food, from pre-seed to growth capital and buyouts. Kristin previously worked as a strategy consultant at Kearney and holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering.
James Viles is a partner in Bain & Company's Sydney office, where he leads Bain’s Sydney PE advisory practice and specializes in Healthcare. He has 17 years of consulting experience across Australia, London and Africa mostly focused on working with PE sponsors.
James has deep experience in advising local and global private equity companies across the ownership life cycle, with a particular focus on diligence (>100 diligences completed and counting) and PE portfolio company value creation.
James has deep experience across all major healthcare provider segments, from allied health to hospitals, with a particular focus on rapid performance improvement / transformation.
Outside of Bain James is on the Board of Life Circle, a charity that assists corporate decision makers and carers avoid regrettable deaths for those in their care, and Thud, a direct to consumer sports nutrition company.
He holds an MBA with distinction from INSEAD France / Singapore and an MA (Oxon) from Oxford University.
Yiqing Wang is the Managing Editor for M&A and ECM, APAC, at Mergermarket. Ms. Wang is leading a team of dedicated journalists across APAC regions to cover PE/VC fundraising, M&A transactions, PE buyouts and exits,etc.
She has been an investigative M&A reporter and researcher since 2009, writing industry news ranging from healthcare, new energy and financial service, etc.
Ms. Wang achieved her master's degree of multilingual multicultural studies from New York University.
Daniela is responsible for sourcing, structuring, and executing new private equity investment opportunities as well as managing existing investments.
Daniela was previously a Vice President in the private equity team of private markets’ manager, Partners Group and worked in Singapore and Switzerland. Daniela has also previously worked in corporate strategy at CIMIC and consulting at Deloitte.
Rohan Wolfers joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2010. Before joining PEP, Rohan was with Navis Capital Partners and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity in Australia, Asia and North America. Rohan received a PLD from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney.
Vincent Wong is a Partner with TPG, based in Melbourne. He is focused on healthcare and consumer investments for TPG Capital Asia in Australia. Vincent currently has responsibilities for TPG’s investments in Invocare, iNova, Funlab, Greencross, and Novotech, and previously for exited investments including Inghams and Healthscope. He is currently on the board of Invocare, iNova, Funlab and Novotech, and a member of the TPG Capital Asia Investment Committee.
Prior to joining TPG in 2011, Vincent served in the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs & Co. Vincent graduated from The University of Melbourne with BCommerce and BLaws (Honors).