1. Big Picture: How to navigate PE in Asia amid turbulent times?
-Cyrus Driver, Managing Director, Partners Group
-Saurabh Agarwal, Managing Director, Head of Southeast Asia Private Equity, Warburg Pincus
-Deepshikha Monga, Senior Editor, DealStreetAsia (Moderator)
The global macroeconomic landscape marked by geopolitical tensions, conflicts, volatile stock markets, and high interest rates continues to weigh on the alternative asset class. The combination of adverse factors has impacted allocations and bias, private equity deal flow and investments, exit timelines, and fundraising milestones. Asia-focused investors too have been adopting a cautionary stance to investments and recalibrating their strategies and market exposure. Amidst this relentless backdrop, how will PE realign to generate alpha in the downcycle?
2. Will SE Asia predominantly be a mid-market PE play?
-Kerrine Koh, Head of SEA, Hamilton Lane
-Danny Koh, Founder & CEO, Tower Capital Asia
-Joshua Morris, Founding Partner & CEO, Emerging Markets Investment Advisers
-Colin Dunne, Partner, Navis Capital Partners
-Ngoc Nguyen, Deputy Editor, Vietnam, DealStreetAsia (Moderator)
Small and middle segments, across geographies and strategies, still represent the vast majority of opportunities in private equity. Especially in SE Asia’s private capital industry, small- and mid-cap deals have constituted a lion’s share. SE Asia’s mid-market segment has garnered the interest of asset allocators at a time when capital flow in China is slowly starting to dry up.
Despite their attractiveness, mid-sized funds and asset allocators do have to face the challenge of operating in a diverse and fragmented market. How will the dynamics of the mid-market segment play out in 2025 and beyond?
3. India hits a high note on exits: Will it bolster further PE activity?
-Utsav Baijal, Partner & Head of India Private Equity, Apollo
-Abhishek Sharma, Founder & Managing Director, Carpediem Capital
-Udai Dhawan, Founding Partner & Head of India Private Equity, Affirma Capital
-Paramita Chatterjee, Editor, DealStreetAsia (Moderator)
At a time when the frequency of shocks across the financial, political, and societal spectrum has increased globally, India has shown resilience backed by robust fundamentals, favourable demographics, and a strong domestic story. India’s private equity industry, which has seen several successful cycles of investments, has reasons to cheer with exits showing an uptick amid turbulent times. Several players are in the market to raise capital for some of their largest investment vehicles so far. India’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, which has been through a rough ride, is also seeing corrections driven by the overall volatility of the past two years. Do these factors spell a bounceback for private equity play in India in 2025 and beyond?
4. Chinese private market taps Middle East capital as West adopts caution
– Jenny Zeng, Founder and Managing Partner, MSA Capital
– Adam Ladjadj, Founder and Chairman, Emirates Family Office Association
– Stephanie Li, Reporter, DealStreetAsia (Moderator)
Chinese fund managers and startups have been tapping the Middle Eastern market as the region has emerged as a preferable location for business expansion and fundraising amid macro uncertainties and rising geopolitical tension. Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds have pumped $7 billion into China since June 2023, a five-fold growth from the previous 12 months. However, with increased US scrutiny on global investments in sensitive and strategic technologies such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) in China, the picture may soon change. What will it take to build deeper China-Middle East links?
5. PE giants find a sweet spot in hospital assets in India, SE Asia
-Dr. Amit Varma, Co-founder & Managing Partner, Quadria Capital
-Navjeewan J. Khosla, Partner, Novo Holdings Equity Asia Pte Ltd
-Dr Basil Lui, Founding Partner, August Global Partners
-Dr. Rana Mehta, Partner & Leader – Healthcare, PwC India
Global investment firms that had backed Indian hospital chains have been able to seal healthy exits, which has further spurred private equity investments into the sector. A similar trend is seen playing out in SE Asia as well where investors are betting big on the resilient and evergreen sector. This session will explore PE investments in steady cash flow businesses like hospitals and healthcare assets, exits, new healthcare-focused funds targeting South and SE Asia, and the valuation landscape.
