Warburg Pincus picks SE Asia head for global leadership role
Jeffrey Perlman, who leads Southeast Asia at Warburg Pincus as well as Asia Pacific real estate, will become the firm’s global president in a move described as succession planning.
Singapore-based Perlman (pictured) will relocate to New York in the autumn. He will retain his Asia leadership responsibilities for the time being. A source close to the situation said Warburg Pincus has a deep bench of talent in the region that will be leveraged to support the portfolio.
Perlman’s elevation means that Timothy Geithner, the current president, will assume the role of chairman. Chip Kaye remains CEO, a position he has held for the past two decades.
“Now is the ideal time to put in place a plan for the next generation of leadership at the firm. We are actively investing out of our latest global flagship fund. With significant uncalled capital, we are well-positioned to take advantage of the complex investing environment that plays to our strengths as a firm,” Kaye said in a statement.
He also highlighted Perlman’s contribution to the development of Warburg Pincus’ Asia franchise, which includes building out the private equity business in Southeast Asia and the real estate business across the region. Perlman also oversaw the opening of the firm’s Singapore office in 2016. Approximately USD 3.7bn of private equity capital has been invested in 17 companies in Southeast Asia since 2013.
Perlman joined Warburg Pincus 17 years ago and arguably made his name with ESR Group, which is now Asia’s largest logistics real estate platform. Warburg Pincus seeded the company in 2011, teaming up with two Chinese entrepreneurs, and continued to invest as it scaled. Platform building and using real estate as a proxy for consumer growth in expansion markets became key to the firm’s Asia strategy.
Warburg Pincus took ESR public and fully exited in early 2021 with a 10x return. Several months later, ESR acquired another portfolio company, ARA Asset Management, and Warburg Pincus rolled over its interest, becoming a shareholder once again.
Perlman remains chairman of ESR and a board director of numerous other companies, including Vietnam-based logistics real estate platform BW Industrial Development, pan-regional data centre operator Princeton Digital Group, Vietnamese mobile wallet provider Momo, and pan-regional self-storage business Storhub.
Warburg Pincus, a global growth investor, has more than USD 83bn in assets under management globally. The latest flagship private equity fund had accumulated commitments of USD 15.4bn against a target of USD 16bn as of January, according to regulatory filings.
The firm invests in Asia out of a variety of funds, including the flagship vehicle and different geography and sector-focused companion funds. The latest China and Southeast Asia offering closed on USD 4.25bn in 2019. Two years later, Warburg Pincus raised USD 2.8bn for its debut Asia real estate fund.
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