Articles by Allen Lee
Asian private equity to return to full force in 2012?
As it is customary for this time of the year, many of the professionals in Asian private equity are beginning to go on their holidays. While dealmaking activity continues for some of the harder working ones, it is clear that activity is becoming slower....
Sharing ideas in India
I was in India last week for our local event, the final one of the year, which successfully took place in Mumbai. As usual, key executives of the local private equity industry got their chance to share their views on the market with their peers from other...
When private equity gets political
Those of you who are familiar with Hong Kong will know that the Special Administrative Region of China will be holding its elections for a new chief executive – the highest local government post – next year. While a number of individuals have expressed...
Established Indian GPs shine in fundraising
It's not secret that many private equity firms are gearing up for a major fundraising spree in Asia. From the global firms like KKR, Bain and TPG to the Asia-based regional funds and focused, country-specific funds, private equity vehicles are in the...
AVCJ Forum Keynotes: Asia becomes even more important
As most of you know, our annual AVCJ Asian Private Equity & Venture Forum took place successfully in Hong Kong last week. The sold-out crowd was treated to, amongst other things, insights from some of the most successful dealmakers in the world and plenty...
Congratulations to our award winners
On behalf of my colleagues at the Asian Venture Capital Journal, I will like to congratulate the winners of our 2011 AVCJ Asian Private Equity and Venture Capital Awards.
Asia fundraising – more than just a renminbi story
The last few years have not been good for most Asian private equity fundraisers. The global financial crisis made the usual institutional investors shied away from the asset class, forcing funds already in the market to scale back their targets slightly....
Last chance to vote in the AVCJ Awards
We are now in the final stretch of our 2011 AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Capital Awards. These awards were launched 11 years ago with the specific aim of recognizing and rewarding excellence in the pan-Asia Pacific private equity and venture capital...
Corporate Japan looks for growth overseas
Japanese companies need to take on the world. Local private equity professionals at the 2011 AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum Japan conference in Tokyo, which I am chairing, see globalization as the major current theme for corporate Japan. Indeed,...
Launching the AVCJ PE Week website…
Optimism is once again in the air as the markets continue to recover and the private equity world gets ready to converge in Asia for the AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum. Now in its 24th year, the conference has become an ecosystem in itself and will...
Countdown to the AVCJ Forum
In just over a month, we will be holding our 24th Annual AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum in Hong Kong. As in the past, AVCJ’s annual event has attracted the biggest and most influential names in the private equity industry including such leaders as...
Submit your nominations for the 2011 AVCJ Awards
Diligent readers will recall that we’ve first announced in the August 30 issue of AVCJ that nominations for our 2011 AVCJ Asian Private Equity & Venture Capital Awards are open – to readers as well as the rest of the private equity industry.
Private equity and the state
The state, particularly in Asian countries, has always played a big role in the private equity industry. While almost all growing regional economies have helped nurture PE through sovereign wealth funds – fueled by foreign exchange and other cash reserves...
PE partnerships – A route into Indonesia
The recently announced TPG-North Star Pacific share swap got me thinking about collaboration between private equity firms. Global PE players have been using local funds to gain access to new markets for some time now, and quite a few have committed capital...
Private equity – it's all about the personalities
When I first joined AVCJ, I was told by my publisher Dan Schwartz that private equity is a people’s business. The full significance of these words didn’t hit home until sometime later, during the dotcom boom, when I saw how potent a mix of savvy investors...
Nominations are open for the AVCJ Awards 2011
As most of you will recall, we started the AVCJ Asian Private Equity & Venture Capital Awards back in 2001, when the region’s nascent private equity industry was going through a “nuclear winter,” picking up the pieces left by the dotcom bust. The awards...
PE's love-hate relationship with corporates
This week's AVCJ highlights three deals, all located down under, involving corporates in private equity – Bain Capital outbidding Sage for Archer and HarbourVest’s MYOB, Asahi taking over Independent liquor from Pacific Equity Partners and Unitas, and...
AVCJ Forum: More than meets the eye
In the June 22 edition of this column, I shared a conversation with a venture capitalist about the reasons why it makes sense for VCs to attend the AVCJ Forum (www.avcjforum.com) in November. Basically, senior partners of the larger private equity and...
Asian LPs and the US Debt Crisis
There has been a shift in the investor base of major private equity funds in recent years as Asia evolves from being just an investment destination to becoming a region for fundraising. Sovereign wealth funds, of course, are leading the way with the substantial...
Emerging markets, fewer buyouts
Asia is top of many investors'wish lists, yet it is interesting how many Western GPs and LPs refer to the region as an emerging market. To those of us living in Asia – and many others on the outside – the term seems hopelessly outdated.
The Asian office: Regional, local or both?
I've said before that it's high time GPs based in US and Europe resume plans to set up offices in Asia. Before these ambitions were mothballed during the global financial crisis, I was often asked where in the region it is best to locate an office. The...
You're only as strong as your brand name
I was surorised by the number of LPs at the recent AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Forum in the US that were familiar with the top tier private equity funds in Asia.
Private equity, the ASEAN way
South East Asia has returned as a favored destination for private equity investors. With a population of over 600 million people and a combined GDP of $1.8 trillion, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – comprising Indonesia, Malaysia,...
Now is the time to open an Asian office
The last few years haev been among the most challenging for private equity. Armed with many of the best practices in the financial services, the industry emerged from the global financial crisis battered but not broken. And now, having turned the corner,...