AVCJ Private Equity Forum Singapore 2024
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Matthew Michelini is Partner, CEO 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.
Mark trained in Physiological Sciences including specialization in neurosciences at Oxford, researched developmental biology, and studied Clinical Medicine at Cambridge before pursuing a career in finance. For more than two decades he worked at Goldman Sachs in Europe and Asia where he was a Partner and among other roles was Vice Chair and the Head of Investment Banking for Asia Pacific.
He then joined CPPIB first as Head of International and then served as President and CEO for five years. Under his leadership, CPPIB grew its exposure to technology investing by launching a Venture and Growth Equity strategy, opening an office in San Francisco, and creating partnerships with leading venture firms and incubators, like the Creative Destruction Lab.
While at CPPIB, Mark chaired its investment committees and oversaw more than $500B of investment in many companies and investment funds. In addition, Mark led the creation of several internal initiatives that leveraged ML/AI to enhance coordination among CPPIB's nearly 2,000 employees across nine global offices and support its investment processes. Under his leadership, CPPIB was one of the best performing global pension funds.
Before founding Intrepid Growth Partners, Mark co-founded and was the founding CEO of Opto Investments, a software platform that raised a $145M series A and is using software to create a new market for investment advisors to access alternative investments. Mark served on the board of Sequoia Heritage and currently serves on GIC's International Advisory Board and on the board of Serendipity Capital an early[1]stage investor in critical technologies. He is an advisor and mentor to a number of technology and early-stage companies in North America and Europe.
Raymond joined CPPIB in October 2019 and leads our Asia credit business. He is the chair of the APAC Credit Committee and a member of our Global Credit Committee. He is also the co-chair of the Credit Committee of The HKVCA. Prior to joining CPP Investments, he was a managing director at SSG Capital, responsible for special situations investments and secured lending in Greater China.
Previously, Raymond was the head of Greater China at Intermediate Capital Group, senior fund manager at RAB Capital and head of Asia Asset Management at D.B. Zwirn. He started his career with HSBC, departing as a team head of the Real Estate Sector.
Raymond holds a BSSc in Economics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and an MBA from the EMBA program of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Mr CHUE En Yaw is the Chief Investment Officer at Azalea Investment Management Pte. Ltd. and leads the investment team. He is a key member of the team that successfully launched the Astrea transactions and Altrium programmme. Mr Chue joined the Azalea Group in 2018 and was deeply involved in the Astrea Platform since 2014.
Mr Chue joined Temasek in 2010 and was a senior member of the Private Equity Fund Investments team covering fund relationships in Asia as well as global secondaries. At Temasek, Mr Chue played a key role in the launch of the Astrea II transaction in 2014. Prior to joining Temasek, he was with Standard Chartered Private Equity and JAFCO (Asia) Investment for almost 10 years. He started his career as an auditor with Arthur Andersen LLP in 1997. Mr Chue is a Chartered Accountant and a CFA charterholder.
Edoardo joined Oppenheimer Generations, a South African single family office, as Chief of Staff in 2016. In this role, he led the establishment of family office operations globally following the family’s sale of De Beers. He relocated to Singapore in 2021, and now oversees Oppenheimer Generations’ presence in Asia, representing the family office’s broader interests in the region as well as managing the Asian portfolio, with a focus on early and growth-stage investments.
Edoardo previously held roles at Barclays Bank in London and New York, working directly for the bank’s Group CEO. He holds a BA in International Studies from Warwick University, an MSc in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and has recently completed his Executive MBA at Chicago Booth School of Business.
Since his move to Singapore, Edoardo has been active within the local family office ecosystem. Amongst other responsibilities, he is part of the teaching faculty for the Wealth Management Institute (WMI), as well as a member of its Family Office Circle.
Roxanne Davies is a senior investment professional with multi decade experience running both family offices and UHNW departments within private banks. Her expertise is in risk management and asset allocation, with a particular emphasis in direct investing and alternative asset classes. She has originated, managed, operated and exited several successful direct equity investments, both in control and minority positions. Roxanne has held both public and private company board membership across various industries and countries and maintains several board positions.
She moved to Asia in 2011 to set up and run Parly Singapore - the Asian arm of a 900 year old European family based out of Switzerland. She remains an advisor to several global family offices and is a partner and Chair of a licensed investment management company in Singapore. She has been a speaker at multiple industry conferences, such as SALT, Milken, Campden and others. She has a Masters degree in Finance and an MBA from HEC Geneva, and is fluent in 4 languages.
Purnima Gandhi has over 15 years of global experience in investment banking, private equity and public equity focused on energy and climate technologies. She has worked across cultures and countries such India, UK and Singapore.
She has been with the investments and portfolio development team at Temasek International, Singapore for 11 years. Prior to this she was in Citigroup in Energy Investment Banking in London.
Purnima has an MA from University of Oxford, UK and BA from University of Delhi, India.
Ruoyu is a Director of Asia Investments for Japan Post Investment’s private equity fund investment advisory program. Before being assigned to Japan Post Investment, he was involved in the Asia private equity investment program in Japan Post Bank. Prior to joining Japan Post Bank in February 2022, he contributed to private equity fund investment, private debt fund investment, structured finance, and corporate finance at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, in both Tokyo and New York offices. He holds a M.A. in Economics and a B.A. in Liberal Arts, from Waseda University in Japan.
Bondy Lau is a Senior Vice President at GIC’s Infrastructure department, based out of Singapore. He is primarily involved in the origination, managing, and execution of infrastructure investments in North Asia. Prior to joining GIC, Bondy worked for Invesco Private Capital, where he focused on investments across the cleantech, renewable energy, and alternative transportation sectors. Mr. Lau has over 17 years of global experience, working across infrastructure, private equity, and investment banking. Mr. Lau holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Investment Finance and Global Management from the University of Southern California.
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.
Sunil Mishra specializes in the sourcing and execution of Asian investments ex-China, specifically in India, Australia, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Korea.
Prior to joining Adams Street, Sunil worked for Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore performing financial and business analyses of local and regional companies. Previously, Sunil worked in India as an Investment and Strategy Associate in Tacogroup, the automotive technology and engineering investment arm of the Tata Group of India, where he worked on business planning, feasibility studies, and localization plans for new ventures.
Sunil manages relationships with several of Adams Street’s managers and sits on advisory boards of more than a dozen private equity firms within the Adams Street Partners portfolio.
Sunil is a member of Adams Street’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Committee.
Luca Molinari is an Executive Director who is responsible for global investments in Financial Services as well as investment activities in Asia as part of Mubadala’s Direct Investments platform. Prior to joining Mubadala, Luca was a Partner and Managing Director at Warburg Pincus, where he worked in Europe and in Latin America, leading transactions across a broad range of sectors and geographies. Prior to that, he worked at the Merchant Banking Division and the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in London.
At Mubadala, Luca has overseen several significant transactions, including an investment in Truist Insurance Holdings, the three-way merger of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Union National Bank and Al Hilal Bank and the sale of a 40% interest in Tabreed to Engie.
Luca holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration from Bocconi University in Milan, and is fluent in English, Italian and Portuguese. He serves on the Board of Directors of Unicredit Spa.
As President of Catamaran, Deepak is responsible for driving the overall performance of the firm’s portfolio by formulating and executing its investment strategy, asset allocation, operational and risk management policies and processes.
Deepak has over 30 years of experience in the global IT services and software product industry. He was Executive Vice President, Group Head of Strategy, and the Chief Risk Officer at Infosys Limited (NYSE: INFY) until June 2022. He played various roles at Infosys – including strategy, M&A, venture funding, risk management, business development, software engineering, and project management.
Deepak was a member of the board of Infosys’ software subsidiaries in Israel, the Netherlands, USA, Japan, and India. He was the Vice President of the Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce, a lead member of the start-up and knowledge management councils of the Confederation of Indian Industry, and a member of the strategy and risk officers’ councils of the World Economic Forum.
In his spare time, he is active in community theatre. Deepak holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Computer Science from the University of Mysore, India.
Saima Rehman is responsible for leading investments in private equity and venture capital funds, and managing portfolio in the East Asia Pacific region. Before joining the Funds group, her experience covered principal investments, syndications and structured finance covering South Asia with IFC and prior to that with IDLC Bangladesh. She has an MBA from INSEAD.
Sam Robinson is Managing Partner of North-East Private Equity Asia, which focuses on Asia private equity funds. Mr. Robinson is based in Singapore and has worked in private equity since 1998, initially joining Schroder Ventures in the UK. In 2001, he was one of the founder members of SVG Advisers, a fund of funds business, where he managed the global investment team. SVG Advisers was acquired by Aberdeen Asset Management in 2013, whereupon Mr. Robinson became Head of Asia Private Equity Fund Investment until his departure in 2015.
Tommy Teo serves on the Venture Capital team at Cercano and leads the Southeast Asia investment team based in Singapore.
Prior to Cercano, Tommy was an Executive Director with Northstar where he focused on growth and technology opportunities in Southeast Asia. Previously, Tommy was an investment banker with Citigroup in Singapore, and with Perella Weinberg Partners and Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. in New York. Tommy was also an analyst at hedge fund sponsor Capital Z Asset Management.
Tommy received his BBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Karen is an Investment Principal based in the firms Hong Kong office.
Prior to joining Coller Capital in 2016, Karen was an investment banking associate in the Greater China Coverage team at Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong. Previously, she worked as an investment banking analyst in the Real Estate, Gaming, Leisure and Lodging team at Deutsche Bank in London.
Karen has a BA in Economics from Wellesley College.
As investment officer of Private Equity at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Jingyi is passionate about connecting people, services and markets by financing and investing in sustainable infrastructure. AIIB is a multilateral financial institution with a mission to improve social and economic outcomes in Asia. At AIIB, Jingyi works as project team leader to originate, structure and execute innovative, developmental and profitable equity transactions, including fund investments and co-investments, across all infrastructure sectors in Asia. Prior to AIIB, she worked at IDB Invest and World Bank in Washington D.C.
Jingyi holds a doctorate degree from Harvard Graduate School of Design, a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor’s degree from Peking University.
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.
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.
Sandeep has over 18 years of experience in Asia Pacific credit markets including Australia, India, Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan.
Prior to Elham, he was Senior Managing Director at Varde Partners’ Asia Corporate and Traded Credit team and was responsible for the significant growth of the Asian book. At Varde, Sandeep led the firm’s investments across various strategies including special situations, private credit, restructuring and secondary trading as well as led strategic initiatives for the firm.
Prior to Varde, Sandeep worked for over a decade at Deutsche Bank Hong Kong and Mumbai as a lead trader in Distressed and Illiquids, covering Asia Pacific stressed loans and bonds and performing loans. Sandeep holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from University of Delhi and is a Chartered Accountant.
Daniel Cheng is a Managing Partner in Brookfield’s Renewable Power & Transition Group. In this role, he is responsible for building and managing the renewable power business across Asia Pacific, as well as the growth and development of Brookfield’s presence in Greater China. Previously, Mr. Cheng was involved in Brookfield’s renewable power investment activities, primarily in North America.
Prior to joining Brookfield in 2015, Mr. Cheng worked in the mergers and acquisitions investment banking division of BMO Capital Markets.
Mr. Cheng holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and Bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo. Mr. Cheng is a board member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
Likha has been the Head of Southeast Asia coverage for Mergermarket since July 2022 after serving as deputy bureau chief for four years. A journalist for almost two decades, she has been with Mergermarket since 2014, starting as the Philippines correspondent, covering public finance, private and public capital markets, energy, infrastructure, natural resources, and antitrust. Prior to Mergermarket, she was the assistant business editor of Interaksyon.com, which was then the online news portal of TV5 in the Philippines, and the assistant business editor of The Manila Times.
She obtained her MA in Media Studies and BS in Development Communication from the University of the Philippines.
Udai Dhawan is a Founding Partner and Head of India Private Equity at Affirma Capital, and is based in Mumbai.
Prior to Affirma Capital, Udai was Managing Director and Head of India for Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE). Having joined SCPE in 2008, Udai was responsible for building the India franchise and was involved with several of the fund’s investments. Prior to SCPE, Udai worked for over a decade in corporate investing, M&A and corporate finance, across India and the United States with JP Morgan, Sabre Inc., Kotak Mahindra Capital and Arthur Andersen. Udai has 24 years of financial services experience, and serves on the Executive Committee of the IVCA, India’s premier private equity industry body.
Udai has an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and is also a chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Mr. Ferrier is a Managing Partner of Navis Private Credit. Mr. Ferrier has more than 30 years of experience, which includes more than 20 years as a credit investor, portfolio manager and business leader.
Previously he was a Managing Director at BlackRock where he played a pivotal role in building BlackRock’s Asian-Pacific Private Credit business, growing AUM to $700m and developing a successful regional strategy focusing on Southeast Asia and Australia.
Prior to BlackRock, he was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Myo Capital. The fund delivered 14% gross returns. Prior to Myo Capital he was a Director / Investment Committee Member with ADM Capital and a Corporate Finance Executive with Peregrine Capital and SG Warburg Group.
Mr. Ferrier holds an MBA, majoring in Finance and Accounting from Monash University and a Bachelor in Science from the University of South Australia.
Utsav Garg is a Managing Director and Head of the Southeast Asia and Australia Business unit of Alvarez & Marsal. The Alvarez & Marsal businesses includes Private Equity services (CDDs, ODDs, FDDs and post-deal value creation, carveouts and PMI support), Corporate Performance improvement (with high results orientation and interim management services) and Restructuring and Turnarounds.
He brings more than 20 years of experience in large scale transformation programs, focused on sustained growth and profitability improvement across various industries, including consumer goods and retail, telecommunications, information and communications technology (ICT), healthcare, logistics and process industries.
Prior to joining Alvarez and Marsal, Utsav led Kearney’s ASEAN business across four offices of Singapore, KL, Jakarta and Bangkok, expanding the company’s business in the region. Prior to that, he worked with Unilever in sales and brand leadership roles across South Asia and Southeast Asia. Mr. Garg began his career at STMicroelectronics as a Semiconductor Design engineer.
Utsav earned an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He is a frequent speaker and fundraiser for charitable giving.
Sang Han is Partner at East Ventures. Sang has served 20 years in various roles within venture capital and technology investments, comprising direct investments, fund-of-fund investments, fund marketing, corporate synergies, incubation & business building at various regional venture capital firms and venture builders organized by leading research institutions, such as Temasek Life Sciences, covering Southeast Asia, Korea, and the US.
Until 2023, Sang served in critical roles at various industry associations, such as a member of the venture capital committee of SVCA (Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association), chairperson of the start-up subcommittee of KOCHAM (Korea Chamber of Commerce in Singapore), and as member of the Seoul Global Investment Promotion Board of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, among other appointments.
He received a BSc in Computer Engineering from Seoul National University and an MBA from INSEAD and has lived in Korea, Singapore, China, Germany, Austria, and France.
Xander is the Head of Sales for the ASEAN region at Apex Group, a global financial services firm providing an extensive range of solutions across the full value chain to institutional asset managers, capital markets, corporates and family offices. He is an avid Top Gun fan who happens to be an experienced business development professional with over 10 years of experience in the financial services industry. In his current role, his is responsible for sales growth and client coverage across ASEAN.
At Openspace Ventures, Jessica leads OSV+, Openspace Ventures' mid-stage growth fund, and is a Director on the Investments team.
She has over 14 years of growth- and late-stage investment and corporate strategy experience across Asia Pacific. Her previous roles include leading the investment team in Southeast Asia for Providence Equity Partners – a global telecommunications, media and technology sector focused private equity fund. More recently, she headed Corporate Strategy & Business Development, APAC, for The Walt Disney Company, where she helmed key strategic initiatives and M&A across the region. Earlier in her career, Jessica worked in the Healthcare Investment Banking and Asia Debt Capital Markets teams at Citigroup.
Jessica holds a BA in Political Science from Barnard College, Columbia University.
Imran is a Managing Partner at Gaja Capital.
Gaja Capital is India’s leading mid-market growth capital investment firm with AUM of $750. Gaja Capital aim is to help create India’s next generation of market leaders in sectors such as Software, Education, Consumer, Financial Services and Healthcare.
Imran has 25 years of experience in Private Equity, Pharmaceuticals and Technology services. Prior to Gaja Capital, Imran worked in a variety of roles of increasing responsibility at Dr Reddy’s and Wipro Technologies.
At Gaja Capital, Imran leads investments in the Software, Education and Consumer clusters. He has been closely involved with Gaja Capital’s investments in Amber (Student accommodation marketplace), Signzy ( SaaS platform for BFSI), Leadsquared ( Sales automation SaaS platform), Education initiatives (B2B Ed-tech), Kangaroo Kids (Pre-K and K12), KOOH Sports (Performance sports), Sportzvillage (youth sports), Eurokids ( Pre-K & K-12), John Distilleries (AlcoBev), CL Educate (Supplemental education), and Indus World Schools (K12).
Imran has postgraduate degrees in software engineering from BITS-Pilani an MBA from IIM-Bangalore.
Ms. Kanchan Jain has 30 years of experience in corporate and structured finance, private credit, and loan and debt capital markets across Europe and Asia. She has worked in origination, structuring, underwriting, and risk management. As founder and head of BPEA Credit Group, Ms. Jain is responsible for the overall business across all its investment & non-investment functions. Over the last 11 years, Ms. Jain and the leadership team at BPEA Credit have led the creation and build-out of BPEA Credit into one of Asia's leading private credit management groups, focused on structured debt investments in the mid and large corporate sectors.
Before moving to India in 2008, Ms. Jain worked for 10 years in London as Managing Director, Co-Head of Structuring at HSBC, and before that as Director at Barclays Capital in the Structured Credit business. Before that, Ms. Jain worked in the Asian debt capital markets across debt syndication, loan trading & risk, based out of Hong Kong and in project finance based out of India. Ms. Jain has lived and worked in India, Asia & the UK and holds a Bachelor's degree in Electronics Engineering from VNIT and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.
David Jewkes is the Perth Head of Office and a Partner in the corporate M&A team who has extensive cross-border experience, particularly in the Australian and Asian markets. He is also part of the firms APAC M&A leadership group.
David’s practice has a particular focus on public mergers and acquisitions (hostile and agreed bids and schemes of arrangement), equity capital market transactions (IPOs and secondary raisings including rights issues and placements), Takeovers Panel proceedings, as well as general corporate governance matters.
David assists traditional energy and resources clients, and private equity investors, execute on their energy transition strategies, both through organic and inorganic opportunities. He has advised on low carbon initiatives, wind and solar M&A and greenfield developments, in Australia and overseas.
He holds a Bachelor of Laws and Commerce from University of Notre Dame Australia. He has worked in Hong Kong and Melbourne, and has completed secondments with the Takeovers Panel Executive based in Melbourne and South32 Limited in Perth.
Manish Kejriwal is the Founder and Managing Partner of Kedaara Capital. Kedaara is a private equity firm pursuing control and minority investment opportunities in India. It currently manages over ~US$ 3.6 billion through investments in several market-leading businesses across a variety of sectors, including consumer, financial services, pharma/healthcare, technology / business services and industrials. Kedaara’s operating partner model comprising former CEOs with proven track records of building market leading businesses.
Since its inception, Kedaara has remained singularly dedicated to its stated strategy of focusing on investments built through trust-based relationships with best-in-class entrepreneurs and management teams across secular fast growing end markets. Kedaara combines the strengths of a well-networked, highly experienced local investing and operating team with the experience of their strategic partner, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a global private equity firm.
In early 2004, Manish founded the India office of Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd., where he headed all its investments and other activities till September 2011. During this time, Temasek invested over US$ 4 billion in India. He was a Senior Managing Director and also held multiple responsibilities in Temasek, Singapore.
He was a core member of its senior leadership team and a key member of Temasek Holding’s Senior Management Committee (SMC), and its Senior Investment & Divestment Committee (SIDC). He was also tasked to lead the firm’s global investments in the FIG sector and its investments in Africa, Middle-East and Russia. Manish brings over 30 years of experience in investing, encompassing the full cycle of experiences in private equity across a variety of industries and sectors in private and public companies and consulting.
Prior to Temasek, Manish was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, Inc. and was part of their New York, Cleveland and Mumbai offices. He helped found “The Private Equity Practice” during his years in New York and was instrumental in conceiving and co-authoring the widely followed “NASSCOM McKinsey reports”.
Prior to McKinsey, Manish had worked at the World Bank in Washington D.C. and with Goldman Sachs (Principal Investment/Corporate Finance) in HK.
Manish received an AB from Dartmouth College, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Major in Economics and Engineering Sciences and where he received the Dean’s Plate. He holds an MBA from Harvard University, where he graduated with high distinction as a Baker Scholar.
Manish is currently the lead independent director at Bharti Airtel, on the boards of Bajaj Finserv Limited and Bajaj Holdings Investment Limited and various Kedaara investee companies. He is also a Member of the Governing Board at K Raheja Corp. Over the years, he has been on the boards of various portfolio companies: Temasek Holdings Advisors India, Parksons Packaging, ICICI Onesource, Punj Lloyd, Bharti Infratel, Fullerton Financial Holdings and Fullerton India Credit Company. He is passionate about driving a few select education initiatives, reflected by his ongoing involvement in the United World College movement as a founder trustee at Ashoka University and a former member of the Harvard Alumni Board.
Manish is an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and was named a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum. Manish is the Co-chair of the CII National Committee on Private Equity and Venture Capital and was also a member of the Alternative Investments Policy Advisory Committee, constituted by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI). He has authored various articles on PE in India and has been profiled in various newspapers and periodicals. He is a sought-after speaker at numerous conferences in India, Asia and North America. He was profiled as one of the “25 hottest young executives in India” by Business Today.
Ashish Kotecha is a Partner at Bain Capital Private Equity, having joined the Firm in 2010. He leads their consumer and retail investments in India and Southeast Asia.
Ashish is a member of Bain Capital Asia’s investment committee and Asia Operating committee which oversees larger operating decisions for the fund. Ashish also leads Bain Capital’s Portfolio Group in Asia – a group, responsible for Bain’s value creation efforts within portfolio companies. As part of this, he actively works with many consumer companies across the region including India, Australia, China and Korea on strategy, operations and performance transformation topics.
Over the last 13 years, he has been personally actively involved in 12 of Bain Capital’s investments across Asia including Axis Bank, L&T Finance Holdings Limited and Hero Motocorp in India. Camp Australia, Only About Children in Australia. Hugel in Korea. Gymboree China, Rise Education and APMG in China.
He was also a Board Member of Axis Bank – India’s 3rd largest private bank. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Mr. Kotecha was the acting Chief Operating Officer at Tourneau, in New York – then the world’s 2nd largest luxury watch retailer and a Leonard Green & Partners portfolio company. He replaced the CEO of the business and successfully led a turnaround of the business through the global financial crisis in 2009. Earlier, he was an Associate Principal with McKinsey & Company, in San Francisco, where he led engagements in Retail, Consumer and Private Equity. He also co-founded their Retail Private Equity Service Line and spent time with McKinsey’s economic think tank (MGI), where he was part of a team that analyzed the impact of FDI in emerging economies, including India. Some of his work at McKinsey has been published in the McKinsey Quarterly and quoted in several external publications, including the Economist. Prior to that, he worked at Goldman Sachs and the Kotecha Group.
He received an MBA with Honors, from The Anderson School at UCLA, a Master of Commerce (Banking and Finance) and a Bachelor of Commerce (Financial Accounting and Auditing) from Sydenham College, University of Mumbai.
Aravind leads Blackstone’s Private Equity Business in Southeast Asia and is based out of Singapore.
Since initially joining Blackstone in 2013, Mr. Krishnan has been involved in the execution of the firm’s investments in TaskUs, Aakash Education, Simplilearn, Xpressbees, Blue Yonder, and International Tractors. He currently serves on the boards of Simplilearn, Aakash Education, and Aakash Edutech.
Before joining Blackstone in 2013, Mr. Krishnan worked as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. Mr. Krishnan received a Bachelor and Masters in Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras and an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School, where he graduated as a Baker Scholar.
Kate Kui is a partner of Harvest Capital. Based in Hong Kong, Kate Kui has extensive experiences in technology and consumer retail industries. Her previous investments include Meituan, Airbnb, Farfetch and Flexport. Before joining Harvest Capital, Kate Kui was a senior vice president of JD.com and head of China tech of Merrill Lynch investment banking in Hong Kong. Kate Kui is a China fellow of Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Prashant Kumar, based in Singapore, joined KKR in 2018 and is a Partner and the Head of the Southeast Asia Private Equity. Mr. Kumar has led a number of the firm’s investments, including Max Healthcare, JB Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, Vini Cosmetics, and Advanta India. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Kumar was a director and member of the investment committee at ChrysCapital, a leading India-focused private equity fund. Previously, he was with Warburg Pincus where led investments in various sectors. Prior to that, Mr. Kumar worked at Karsch Capital Management, a New York-based hedge fund, and SUN Capital, an emerging markets focused private equity firm. He began his career as a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Mr. Kumar holds a B.Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, a post-graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management Kolkata, and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Rashmi Kumar is an experienced financial journalist with over 12 years of reporting, writing and editing experience. She spent a decade at media and publishing house Delinian, previously called Euromoney Institutional Investor, last as Asia Editor of GlobalCapital and Editor of Asiamoney until the end of 2022. Her expertise spans fundraising, capital markets, investment banking, private banking and wealth management, and sustainability.
Desmond is currently a Managing Director at TPG NewQuest, based in Singapore. Desmond joined NewQuest in 2015 and is responsible for sourcing, execution and portfolio management of the firm’s investments across Southeast Asia. Desmond has 20 years of private equity experience in the Asia region and prior he was Managing Director of Fosun, where he led the Southeast Asia investment team.
Desmond’s private equity experience also includes prior roles with Morgan Stanley and Arctic Capital in Hong Kong, and CIMB Private Equity and Navis Capital Partners in Malaysia. Desmond started his career as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen in Malaysia. Desmond is a Fellow Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and holds an undergraduate degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Sheffield, England.
Jenny Lee, is a senior managing partner at Granite Asia. She leads global investor relations and strategy, and was instrumental in setting up GGV’s first China office in 2005 and re-opening the Singapore office in 2019.
A self-starter, an investor and an entrepreneur, Jenny spent the last 23 years overseas and is frequently the first to invest in new innovative applications and products. She is best known for investments in sectors like Edtech, Fintech, Food and Agritech, Metaverse, and Energy Sustainability and Automation Technologies. Her portfolio includes 21 companies valued at over $1 billion each. She has had 16 IPOs up to date, including one in 2023 and two in 2021 across five different global exchanges, and numerous portfolio companies exits via M&A. Jenny’s global investment track record over two decades and early operation and finance work experience with Singapore Aerospace in Singapore; Morgan Stanley, and JAFCO Asia in Hong Kong enhanced her role as a preferred board member with deep domain expertise and global investment experience.
Born and raised in Singapore, Jenny is highly respected in the Asia business community and serves as a board member of Temasek. She serves on the governing boards of both Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Duke-NUS Medical School. In addition, she is a member of Singapore’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council; Singapore Business Federation; Asia Business Council; and Future Economy Advisory Panel.
Jenny has been a member of the Forbes Global 100 VC Midas list since 2012 and was the first woman to break the top 10 in 2015. She was also recognised by Forbes as one of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2023 and 2022 and in 2019 was named to the Forbes Asia Power Businesswomen 25 list and received the Business Times’s Outstanding Overseas Executive Award. In 2016, she was named to the Vanity Fair New Establishment list, Fast Company Most Creative People in Business list, and is consistently recognised by The New York Times and CB Insights among the top 100 venture capital investors worldwide, ranking #8 among top venture capitalists in Asia.
Jenny graduated from Cornell University with an M.S. and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
Pang Lee is based in Cooley’s Hong Kong office, his practice includes all areas of partnership, corporate and securities law with a concentration on the organization and investment in private funds and strategic investments in the tech industry. Pang has worked closely with members of the Hong Kong start-up community cultivating its emerging companies ecosystem, with a particular focus in healthcare and emerging technology companies. Pang regularly advises private fund managers and institutional investors on United States and Hong Kong regulatory and compliance matters.
Pang brings a global perspective in his work, having worked in New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong and Shanghai in over two decades of legal practice. Pang regularly speaks at regional industry conferences in China and Southeast Asia, including serving as a moderator at the AVCJ for well over a decade. He is a member of the firm’s pro bono committee.
He is ranked as a leading investment funds lawyer by Chambers Greater China, The Legal 500 Asia Pacific and IFLR1000 Asia Pacific.
Pang received his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and a BS from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is admitted to practice in New York and is a solicitor of Hong Kong.
Adrian Li is an entrepreneur and veteran investor in the Indonesian and Southeast Asian tech industry. As Founder and Managing Partner of AC Ventures, he has invested in over 80 businesses in the past decade, including category leaders such as Stockbit, Shipper, Xendit, Koinworks, Julo, Carsome, and others.
With co-founding experience in both China and Indonesia, Adrian brings a unique perspective and valuable insights to any business. His first startup became the largest live online English training service in China before being acquired in 2010. Adrian then joined Rocket Internet as a Managing Director, building ventures in China and Southeast Asia. In 2014, he launched Convergence Ventures, which later became AC Ventures in 2019.
Adrian graduated from Cambridge University with a BA and MA in Economics and was elected a Hawk in recognition of his contributions to university and national-level judo. He obtained his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
He is a business mentor at Endeavor, The Founders Institute, and Antler, and is a member of YPO. Adrian is also an endurance race enthusiast having completed over 15 70.3 events and as well as a Full Ironman.
Mr Benny Lim is the Partner and Head of Southeast Asia for Affinity Equity Partners (“Affinity”), overseeing Affinity’s investment activities in Southeast Asia.
Mr Lim has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, of which he has spent more than 12 years in Affinity. He has led late-stage growth and buyout transactions across the consumer, healthcare and financial services sectors in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand for the firm.
Mr Lim received a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from Monash University, Australia and is also a CFA charterholder.
Shaun is Co-President, Partner and member of the management committee of HOPU Investments, an Asia alternative asset manager with US$20billion AUM that specializes in creating proprietary investments driven by its unique network and strong fundamental analysis capabilities. Its industry focuses include consumer, technology, healthcare, financial services, and logistics/real estate. He is also concurrently Head of HOPU-ARM Innovation Fund, a private equity fund set up jointly by HOPU and Arm Technologies investing in deep technology opportunities.
Shaun has over 20 years’ experience in private equity and investment banking, having worked in London, New York, Amsterdam, Singapore and Hong Kong. He was previously Managing Director at Blackstone, Head of China Financial Institutions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Vice President of ABN AMRO Private Equity. Mr. Lim also founded NBF Capital, a platform specializing in technology investments, as well as co-founded two technology start-ups with HK listed Pico Group in China where he also served as CEO.
Shaun has a Bachelor's degree in Economics (First Class Honours) from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
SJ Lim joined KKR in 2019 and is a Managing Director and Head of Southeast Asia and India Credit. Prior to joining KKR, Mr. Lim spent 13 years at Credit Suisse where he was responsible for the private financing business in Southeast Asia, India and Australia, which spanned corporate loans, leveraged finance, structure credit and share financing for corporates and ultra high net worth counterparties. Mr. Lim holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and a first class honors in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics.
Nicolo Magni is Head of Global Banking South East Asia & India for UBS. Prior to that Nicolo was Co-Head of the Strategic Equity Solutions Group ("SESG") for UBS in APAC as well as Head of Private Financing Markets ("PFM") for APAC. Nicolo is now based in Singapore from March 2020; he joined UBS in Hong Kong in 2011. Prior to that, Nicolo was at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan in London. Nicolo holds a Master degree from ESCP-EAP, Paris.
Sean Murphy is a fund formation partner in Cooley’s Singapore office. Sean’s practice focuses on the formation and operation of private funds across venture capital, growth equity, buy-out, special situations, real estate and infrastructure strategies. First resident in Singapore in 2004, he has advised fund sponsors and investors for more than a decade from offices in Singapore, Hong Kong and New York. Sean also regularly advises clients on co-investments, managed accounts, feeder funds for HNWIs, carried interest plans, strategic partnerships and US securities and investment advisory laws.
Sean has a JD from the George Washington University Law School with honors, and a BS from University of Pennsylvania.
Sandeep Naik is a Managing Director and Head of India & Southeast Asia at General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm with $73 billion in assets under management. He is also a member of the firm’s Management and Portfolio Committees. Sandeep serves as a board member at General Atlantic portfolio companies BillDesk, Biofourmis, KFin Technologies Private Limited, PT MAP Boga Adiperkasa (MBA), Rubicon Research, and Mable, as well as serves as a board observer at BYJU’S. He also sits on the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Financial Centre Advisory Panel and serves as a board member at EDB Singapore.
Before joining General Atlantic in 2012, Sandeep served as a Partner and Co-Head of India for Apax, leading investments in the healthcare, financial and business services, and retail and consumer sectors. Earlier in his career, he was Global Marketing Manager at Medtronic Inc., a scientist at Mayo Clinic, and a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. He is also the Co-Founder of InfraScan Inc., a medical device business focused on detecting bleeding inside the brain using a handheld device. Sandeep was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and has served on the Global Agenda Council of the New Order of Economic Thinking.
Sandeep holds a B.Tech in Instrumentation Engineering from the University of Mumbai, an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the Medical College of Virginia, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Jibu Philip, based in Singapore, is a distinguished leader in Merger and Acquisition Strategies, Value Enhancement, and M&A Advisory, advising both Private Equity and Corporate investors. His expertise lies in maximising deal value, insightful management of portfolio companies, and providing decisive advice for high value exits. His wider experience spans buy-side and sell-side advisory, and includes deal strategy, value creation, due-diligence, carve-outs, and integrations.
With an advisory career that began in the US, and then continued in the UK and Europe, Jibu's track record includes pivotal advisory roles in global landmark deals, and value creation experience spanning over 100 M&A transactions across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia. He has diverse experience, having delivered advisory projects in a range of sectors such as financial services, technology, industrial, and retail and consumer sectors.
Jibu Philip's clientele includes global private equity firms, sovereign wealth funds, and corporate investors, with his work consistently driving revenue growth, profitability enhancements, and transformative changes. In Asia Pacific region, he leads Go-To-Market for KPMG ELEVATE, our market leading and proprietary value creation service offering. Jibu is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA from London Business School, UK.
Dominic is Partner and Co‐Head of South East Asia at TPG, based in Singapore. He has lived and worked in Asia since joining the firm in 2005 and, in that time, has been engaged with investments throughout the Asia Pacific region that represent more than $1.5b of committed equity capital. He Chairs the TPG Asia Monetisation Committee, and sits on the TPG Asia Investment Review Committee and the firm’s global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council. His involvement with current and past TPG portfolio companies includes XCL Education, Singlife, APTowers, PropertyGuru, BFI Finance, 8990 (Deca Homes), Grand Royal Group, Indomaret, BankBTPN, and CIMB. He served voluntarily on the Facilities Committee of the Singapore American School, which is attended by his son, from 2020 to 2023. Prior to TPG, Dominic worked in the Investment Banking Division of Credit Suisse First Boston in Melbourne, primarily focused on mergers and acquisitions in Australia and New Zealand. A native of Australia, he received a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours – Finance) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne
Rafael Ratzel has been an integral part of TH Capital (华控基金) in Beijing since 2016, spearheading the firm's international initiatives as the head of TH Capital International. His strategic leadership resulted in the successful establishment of the firm’s inaugural USD Fund in 2023, extending opportunities for international investors to access growth capital investments in Chinese high-tech sectors. The international team at TH Capital also supports portfolio companies in introducing innovative Chinese technologies to a global customer base.
Before his tenure at TH Capital, he held several operational roles at Siemens and Bosch in Europe and as a consultant with Roland Berger in Beijing. He further enhanced his cross-border investment expertise at CMIG Investments in Shanghai.
Rafael holds dual degrees in Engineering (Industrial and Systems Engineering) and Business Administration (Management) from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has also acquired MBA degrees from Tsinghua University in Beijing and the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
His strategic insight and leadership are also recognized in his role as a board member of the German family office and industrial holding group AEQUITA.
Yash is a Managing Partner at Jungle Ventures leading Jungle's Southeast Asia investments and portfolio support efforts. He joined the firm in 2016. Yash has been named to Asia’s Forbes 30 under 30 list in 2020 and has been an active venture investor since 2014 focused on the India and SE Asia markets.
At Jungle, Yash primarily focuses on Consumer, B2B and SME facing investments and has led our investments in companies such as Leap, Waresix, Ofload, Evermos, Hypefast, Medici and many more. He loves getting deeply involved with founders to help identify and collaborate on key accelerants for growth, business building and organization development. Prior to Jungle, Yash was a venture investor at the Venture Capital team for IFC (International Finance Corporation), the private investment arm of the World Bank, from 2014 to 2016. Also, prior to his venture investing journey, Yash worked in investment banking at O3 Capital focused on capital raising and M&A for technology companies.
Yash holds an MBA from FMS Delhi, and a Bachelors of Engineering from BITS Pilani.
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.
Wei Jian Tor joined EQT Partners in June 2018.
Prior to joining EQT Partners, Wei Jian was with The Abraaj Group in Singapore focusing on private equity investments in Southeast Asia across various sectors. Before his career in private equity, he worked at the Investment Banking division of Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Singapore.
Wei Jian holds a double degree in Bachelor of Accountancy and Bachelor of Business Management (Summa Cum Laude) from the Singapore Management University.
Jannie is a Partner at TVM Capital Healthcare focused on the SEA Fund. Prior to joining TVM, she led Southeast Asia healthcare investment banking at Morgan Stanley. She also served as Chief Operating Officer of Southeast Asia investment banking at Morgan Stanley from 2018 to 2020. Jannie has been integrally involved in c. US$70Bn of strategic and capital transactions across North America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. Previously, Jannie worked at Sears Holdings Corporation in a general management rotational program.
Jannie holds an A.B. in literature (magna cum laude) from Harvard College and holds an MBA in Finance (cum laude) from The Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania.
Fan focuses on investment opportunities in the technology and service sectors, as well as China and cross-border buyout opportunities. Prior to joining CDH in 2018, Fan was an Investment Director at Permira, a global private equity firm, covering technology and consumer sectors, and prior to that Fan was a VP at Unitas Capital, an Asia based buyout fund. Fan received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Fudan University.
Ling Yang is China Editor for Mergermarket, a global news intelligence service for advisors, private equity firms and corporates. She heads a team of dedicated specialists across China to cover corporate growth strategies, M&A deals, PE buyouts, cross-border M&A intelligence, as well as data-backed analysis and trend pieces.
Ling has been an investigative M&A reporter for 12 years with a special focus on private equity coverage. She was the head of consumer and retail coverage for APAC with Mergermarket. She joined Mergermarket in Hong Kong in 2011 before moving to Shanghai in 2016.
Luyi is a Managing Director at ShawKwei & Partners responsible for expanding investment opportunities, executing transactions, and overseeing corporate governance and investment management.
Luyi's investment career started at ShawKwei & Partners, where she worked on the investment team focusing on advanced manufacturing and industrial services. Luyi has unique insights, strategic acumen, and a proven track record in identifying and nurturing investment opportunities. Prior to re-joining ShawKwei, Luyi worked four years with Grab Holdings Ltd on strategic investment and partnership projects across Southeast Asia. Grab is a Southeast Asia leading consumer SuperApp for ride hailing and deliveries as well as financial services.
Luyi holds an MBA from London Business School, a Master of Science in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, a BA in International Finance from Fudan University, and a BS in Economics from the University of Groningen.