Carlyle appoints SE Asia head, fires Indonesia deal-maker

Singapore-based Kaul has been with the firm since 2008, having previously served as president of Citibank Japan. Carlyle described the head of Southeast Asia job as a newly-created role that reflects the opportunities it is seeing in a fast-growing region. Kaul will also assume some responsibilities previously held by Louis.

The private equity firm was not aware that Louis was under investigation for insider trading until the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced his penalty on October 14, according to a source familiar with the situation. His employment was duly terminated. Carlyle declined to comment on the matter.

MAS said that in March 2012, while a managing director at UBS, Louis bought shares in Jakarta-listed Bank Danamon through his wife's bank account in Singapore. This was subsequent to coming into possession of price-sensitive and non-public information of the proposed acquisition of Danamon by DBS Group. The deal was announced on April 2 and Louis made a profit of around IDR1.7 billion ($126,000) after the stock price rose.

He was ordered to pay a civil penalty of S$434,912 ($316,000), according to a MAS statement. The civil penalty regime, which does not attract criminal sanctions, was introduced in 2004. The current maximum penalty is S$50,000 or three times the profit earned from the offense, whichever is higher.

Carlyle announced the appointment of Louis, who spent nearly 10 years at UBS including a stint as country head for Indonesia, in May 2013. The following year, it became the first global private equity firm to open an office in Jakarta, although a number of groups have bulked up their presence in Singapore with a view to targeting Indonesia.

Carlyle completed its first investment in Indonesia in 2012, buying a minority stake in telecom towers operator Solusi Tunas Pratama (STP) for $100 million. AVCJ Research has no other records of private equity investments made by the firm in Southeast Asia. There are currently eight investment professionals dedicated to sourcing and managing deals in the region.

Across Asia Pacific as a whole, Carlyle had invested approximately $15.4 billion of equity as of June 2015. The private equity firm closed its fourth Asia buyout fund at $3.9 billion in September 2014. A second dedicated Japan fund closed at just under $1 billion in September of this year.

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