Carlyle sees strong growth potential in Southeast Asia

1. Carlyle sees strong growth potential in SE Asia
Sunday, 25 April 2010 23:24
The Edge
KUALA LUMPUR: Southeast Asia, with its favourable demographics, growing affluence and
wealth of natural resources, has a great growth potential, said international private equity firm
the Carlyle Group.
Anand Balasubrahmanyan, who oversees Carlyle Asia Partners' (CAP) Southeast Asian
investments, said while growth over the medium term would likely be strongest in Indonesia
and Vietnam, investment opportunities could be seen in the other major regional economies.
The other countries included Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, he said in an email interview
with The Edge Financial Daily.
Balasubrahmanyan said the private equity firm was monitoring the developments in Thailand
and would assess its investment environment in due course.
Thailand's political unrest stems from weeks of protests calling for Prime Minister Abhisit
Vejjajiva to quit immediately, by "red-shirt" protesters who comprise largely supporters of
ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The protests came to a head when demonstrators
battled police on April 10, leaving at least 22 dead.
Meanwhile, Carlyle has just concluded a fund-raising exercise for private equity fund CAP III at
US$2.55 billion (RM8.11 billion), 40% larger than its predecessor CAP II.
The addition of this fund, which is the third Asia-Pacific ex-Japan private equity fund advised by
the group, brings the aggregate committed capital to over US$5 billion.
"CAP III invests in controlling and strategic minority equity stakes in large growth companies
throughout Asia. We target high-growth companies in a range of sectors that will benefit from
the strong growth in Asia's major economies.
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2. "To date, CAP investments have covered sectors encompassing financial services, consumer,
retail, manufacturing, telecommunications and media," said Balasubrahmanyan.
He added that CAP focused on investments in China, Taiwan, India, Korea, Australia and
Southeast Asia.
CAP had in January signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Beijing Municipal
Bureau of Financial Work to set up a renminbi-denominated fund in Beijing.
The Carlyle Asia Partners renminbi-denominated fund will invest alongside CAP III, in addition
to pursuing independent investments in large growth companies, as a means of better
approaching investment opportunities in China.
However, Balasubrahmanyan refrained from stating the return on investments, saying: "It is
premature to discuss return on investments as we have only just completed the fund-raising
exercise for CAP III."
Balasubrahmanyan said Carlyle had developed into the longest-standing and largest global
private equity firm in Asia.
He said its unique investment model and emphasis on local operational expertise and
partnership enabled it to create value for investors and portfolio companies.
"We are looking at hedging specific risks in relation to an investment on a case-by-case basis, so
it is difficult to provide general comments on our hedging strategies," he added.
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