VIDEO: PE's top names sound off on Asian talent

In the lead-up to the 24th annual AVCJ Forum 2011, held in Hong Kong November 7-11, Markus Ableitinger, director and head of the Asian investment management team at Capital Dynamics, Philip Bilden, founding managing director cum senior advisor at HarbourVest, Mournir Guen, founder and CEO of MVision, and Jean Eric Salata, founding partner and CEO of Baring Private Equity Asia, tell AVCJ TV that building stable firms in Asia - with both depth and talent - is a challenge. However, while the majority of funds are still in their infancy, reliable and competitive GPs can be found.

"Asian private equity is about three to four years old, meaning that up to 80-90% of players in this region aren't older than three to four years," Ableitinger says. "We've figured out that a lot of investors are blinded by the ample opportunity in China and India, but it needs the GP to exploit opportunities in a proper way, meaning proper investment and proper divestment ... A lot of non-sophisticated investors are blinded by the opportunity and forget that they are dealing with a GP in its infancy."

Speaking about China specifically, Bilden says that, despite the proliferation of funds, "there are a very small minority that have been in business for over a decade," but this is poised to change. China private equity is emerging from its growth phase and has great potential.

"The good news is the abundance of capital that is now available in China. In the past 4-5 years, much of this capital has come from non-Chinese sources pursuing China fund strategies and that has helped create the human capital side of managers in China," Bilden says. "Some are quite good and some are very competitive on a global scale."

Guen and executives from each of these firms will be speaking at the AVCJ Forum 2011. For more information visit www.avcjforum.com.

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• Topics
• People
• GPs
• LPs
• Greater China
• Jean Eric Salata
• Baring Private Equity Asia
• Markus Ableitinger
• Capital Dynamics
• Philip M. Bilden
• HarbourVest Partners
• Mounir Guen
• MVision