EQT loses Singapore-based partner Tak Wai Chung

Chung served as a partner in the mid-market team, having joined EQT in 2009 from Lehman Brothers. Based in Singapore, he has worked on deals across the region. Most recently, Chung was a board member at Vietnam English language tuition business ILA Vietnam, China-based social compliance assessment provider Elevate, and source verification platform DataFlow.

Announcing his departure in a post on LinkedIn, Chung said that he would remain in Singapore. He indicated that he has a new position lined up but gave no further details.

This is the second senior-level exit from EQT in a matter of days. Last week, Martin Mok, who spent 20 years with the firm and served as a partner and head of Asia mid-market coverage, joined CVC Capital Partners as a senior managing director in Hong Kong.

EQT, meanwhile, wants to build out its Asia operation. Its strategy for the region has been classic middle-market and skewed towards China and Southeast Asia. Those geographies account for eight of the nine deals in the firm’s Asia mid-market fund, which closed at $800 million in 2018.

Speaking to AVCJ last week about the firm’s newly opened Tokyo office, Asia Pacific private equity head Simon Griffiths said the goal was to bring the EQT model to Asia. This means a narrower sector focus, a bulked-up portfolio support team, and larger equity checks. Having thus far made commitments of $50-100 million in Asia, it will now target $100 million and above, with a sweet spot of $100-300 million.

In addition to launching in Japan – which involves recruiting a local team – EQT has added private equity executives in its Australia office, which opened last year. India and South Korea will be the next targets.

“We want to grow in the region and really bring the best of EQT to bear in the region, which historically we haven’t had the bandwidth and resources to do,” said Griffiths. He spent seven years with EQT in Southeast Asia until 2015 and re-joined the firm last year with a remit to expand the Asia PE operation.

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