AVCJ

Weekly digest - September 15 2021

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08 September 2021
VIRTUAL REPORTING: LOST IN TRANSLATION
COVER STORY
GP-LP reporting in the age of remote assessments and stilted video catchups leaves much to be desired. Both sides are trying to bridge the divide.
TALKING POINTS
AVCJ AWARDS 2021: 9 DAYS AND COUNTING
Nominations for the 2021 AVCJ Private Equity & Venture Capital Awards will close on September 24. For more information, go to: www.avcjforum.com/awards.
TALKING POINTS
LIQUIDITY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Is Southeast Asia finally overcoming its exits problem? Panelists at the AVCJ Singapore Forum seemed to think so, citing mergers with special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), interest in GP-led secondary transactions, and robust IPO pipelines as evidence of increased liquidity options. Some key takeaways…
  • Not all SPAC sponsors are created equal (look at the de-SPAC processes):
“High-quality sponsors have the relationships you need to secure a strong PIPE. Others do not. What we have seen with Property Guru and Kredivo raising their PIPEs during a downturn in the SPAC market is a real flight to quality” – Tushar Roy, Square Peg Capital
  • Secondaries are an easier sell than before (in part because the amount of capital raised and deployed in the region far exceeds aggregate distributions):
“In 2007, I felt like Chicken Little, running around saying, ‘You should do this, you should do that.’ People looked at me in a funny way. Now, when I make a proposal, they say, ‘That’s interesting’” – Jason Sambanju, Foundation Private Equity
  • Some exchanges are moving faster than others to accommodate tech start-ups (with Singapore a notable laggard as it retains profitability requirements):
“It’s the old economy and the old economy is dying. If they make the change, we could even capture a lot of Chinese companies [given the US appears to be off-limits and the waiting list in Hong Kong is long]” – Soo Boon Koh, iGlobe Partners
  • There has been progress (in addition to the bullishness on SPACs, secondaries, and IPOs, sponsor-to-sponsor deals are on the rise), but it’s gradual:
“Even today, it is difficult for LPs to get statistically significant data on exits in this part of the world when making strategic decisions as to where to allocate their capital” – Thomas Lanyi, CDH Investments
PERSONAL PROFILE
VISION KNIGHT CAPITAL'S DAVID WEI
VISION KNIGHT CAPITAL'S DAVID WEIDrawing on his experiences as a top executive at Alibaba Group, David Wei fashioned Vision Knight Capital into a China-focused private equity firm that aims to be both consultant and capital provider.
ANALYSIS
AUSTRALIA PRIVATE WEALTH: CHOOSING CHANNELS
AUSTRALIA PRIVATE WEALTH: CHOOSING CHANNELSThe swelling bank balances of Australia’s high net worth individuals and family offices are an attractive target for private equity. Access is becoming increasingly formalized across the spectrum.
DEAL FOCUS
SHOPUP CHAMPIONS THE IRON TRIANGLE
SHOPUP CHAMPIONS THE IRON TRIANGLEAs a first mover in Bangladesh’s B2B e-commerce space, ShopUp moved quickly into services, logistics, and finance. This inadvertent super app now has $75 million in Series B funding to show for its efforts..
FUND FOCUS
AGIC STICKS TO CROSS-BORDER GROWTH THESIS
AGIC STICKS TO CROSS-BORDER GROWTH THESISHaving found its sweet spot bridging the middle markets of Asia and Europe, AGIC Capital plans to stay there – although Fund II will move earlier to capture technology hardware post-commercialization.
SEEN AND HEARD
A WORLD RE-ORDERED
COVID-19 has fast-tracked the emergence of a new investment order, according to Australia's Future Fund. Contributing factors include deglobalization, populism, tech disruption, climate change, expected inflation, and fiscal-monetary coordination.
SEEN AND HEARD
NO LOSS OF APPETITE
Pension funds in Asia ex-Japan have increased their fixed income allocations in response to COVID-19, but not at the expense of alternatives, according to Mercer. Fixed income has risen from 52.8% to 55.4%, alternatives from 7.1% to 7.7%.
For your calendar
UPCOMING EVENTS
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