Sharon Lim

LPs need to play fair 2009-08-24 Sharon Lim <p>The past year has been anything but a breeze for the private equity industry – everyone from GPs to LPs and service providers have had to grapple with the fallout of the downturn in a radically different environment than the heyday that ended at the turn o

Will 2009 see a return to opportunisitc investment it used to be?

Limited partners are wrong to think that Asian private equity portfolios should deliver a premium over Western markets because the risk is categorically higher. It is not.

Goh Yew Hong is a co-founder of Axiom Asia Private Capital, a Singapore-based fund of fund manager founded in 2006. Established by a group of former executives from Singapore's GIC Special Investment, Axiom made headlines last year when it raised $440 million to invest in Asia-focused private equity funds. Axiom Asia represents a new generation of local fund of fund managers that have gained favour with investors outside the region who like the local and institutional experience of professionals like Goh. At GIC, which he joined in 1995, Goh was involved in investments in private equity funds, direct deals and co-investments. Sharon Lim spoke to him in January.

Largely unaffected by the sub-prime crisis, the Japanese leveraged finance market is open for business. The availability of cheap credit bodes well for buyouts led by private equity. Sponsorless deals on the other hand will remain the exception - despite an interesting precedent. Sharon Lim reports.

Robert Zulkoski created a stir when he left Colony Capital Asia Pacific in 2004 to set up Pangaea Capital Management, an Asia-focused special situations fund manager. Earlier this year, Pangaea became part of Oaktree Capital Management, a US alternative investment group with big plans for the region. The sale has thrust Zulkoski back into the spotlight and brought him back together with former colleagues at Colony. In September, Sharon Lim met him to learn how and why it all happened.

Asian private equity is going through another record year of fund formation. Sharon Lim explains why, and asks for how much longer the boom can continue.

Olympus Capital Holdings Asia has invested $28 million in a joint venture established with China-listed cement producer Sichuan Golden Summit.

The subprime meltdown is threatening to prevent the LBO model from gaining further ground in Asia. But not everyone involved in Asian private equity has succumbed to pessimism yet, finds Sharon Lim.

Coates Hire, a heavy equipment rental company listed in Australia, has rejected a revised offer put forward by The Carlyle Group and a strategic local investor.