Fireside chat with Louis Casey, Principal, Private Equity, KKR
Private equity powerhouse KKR is one of the most active investors in the region having backed ride-hailing and e-commerce behemoth GoTo, real estate listings platform PropertyGuru and digital and financial services firm Voyager Innovations, among others.
The PE major is now expanding its presence in the growth stage to cash in on the technology boom in SE Asia. KKR expects its tech investments to accelerate in the region as new consumption trends and business models emerge on the back of rapid digitalisation.
KKR plans to raise funds for five Asia-focused strategies outside of private equity this year, including infrastructure, real estate, credit and growth businesses. In the growth strategy, fundraising covers both impact and next-generation tech businesses.
Earlier this year, KKR led a $45-million investment in Tencent-backed Philippine-based B2B e-commerce platform GrowSari’s Series C round. The transaction marked KKR’s latest technology investment in the merchant enablement space after it backed Vietnam’s KiotViet last year.
In this fireside chat, we feature KKR’s Louis Casey, who is a member of the Next Generation Technology team that is focused on growth equity investments in Asia. Casey will share perspectives on how SE Asia is emerging as a significant part of the PE major’s Asia growth strategy. We will also talk to him about the valuations and exit landscape, top sectoral biases, and the opportunities KKR is seeing specifically in Indonesia.