Carlyle loses Southeast Asia MD

Balasubrahmanyan joined Carlyle in 2007, having spent more than 10 years as an investment banker, most recently serving as executive director and head of Southeast Asia capital markets at Morgan Stanley. Based out of Singapore, his remit was to identify opportunities for the Carlyle Asia buyout division in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

According to Reuters, Carlyle has closed just one deal in Southeast Asia during this period, picking up a stake in China Fishery in 2010. While the company is listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange, it is headquartered in Hong Kong and majority-owned by Pacific Andes International, another Hong Kong company.

Most recently, Carlyle was thought to be in pole position to secure a stake in Indonesia's GarudaFood for around $200 million. However, concerns were expressed about the valuation of the deal - market sources tell AVCJ that Carlyle's bid was in the region of 20x EBITDA - and it ultimately fell through. Suntory, which was competing with the private equity firm, ended up creating a joint venture with GarudaFood.

Industry participants say that Carlyle bid for at least three other major assets in Indonesia, losing out each time - a testament to the challenges global private firms face in the country.

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• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• People
• Southeast Asia
• Indonesia
• The Carlyle Group