Billionaire David Rubenstein predicts faster growth in Asia-based companies
Singapore may be the best place to start a private equity firm, according to David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-executive chairman of industry heavyweight Carlyle Group, who expects Asia-based firms to be faster-growing than their Western counterparts.
“If I were starting all over again, I’d probably be based in Singapore, because, you know, the greatest growth in the world is going to be in Asia,” Rubenstein said on Tuesday at the Greenwich Economic Forum, a two-day investment conference in Connecticut.
Private equity “firms based in Asia will probably grow at a faster rate than firms grow based in the West,” he said.
Over the past decades, private equity assets targeting the Asia-Pacific region have climbed at a compounded rate of 21%, versus 7% for Europe and North America, according to a July report by consultancy EY, citing figures from financial data provider Preqin.
A recent Pitchbook survey found that 37% of limited partners expected to increase target allocations to the Asia-Pacific, higher than anywhere else.
With $222 billion in assets under management, Carlyle is one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers.
Rubenstein, who served in the Carter administration before co-founding Carlyle in 1987, helped the company raise cash from sovereign wealth funds including that of Singapore.
The Washington-based company last year closed its latest and largest Asia-focused fund at $6.55 billion, exceeding its target of $5 billion and surpassing the size of its predecessor by more than 65%. The group is also in the process of fundraising for its fourth Japan-focused fund.
Source: Nikkei Asian Review