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Banking & finance
BusinessBanking & Finance

Hong Kong-based Baring Private Equity Asia eyes tech, Southeast Asia after US$6.7 billion merger with EQT

  • The just completed merger integrates Baring Private Equity Asia into the world’s third-largest PE firm with active ownership strategies
  • The combined entity will continue BPEA’s focus on tech, healthcare and services while eyeing growth companies in Southeast Asia

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A man bicycles past housing properties in Beijing on September 15, 2022. Real estate and private debt have become increasingly popular among investors for diversification and hedging against risk in the public markets. Photo: EPA-EFE
Iris Ouyang

The private-equity (PE) entity formed by the just completed US$6.7 billion merger of Hong Kong-based Baring Private Equity Asia (BPEA) and Sweden-based PE company EQT is betting on Asia to help it challenge global giants KKR and Blackstone.

The combined entity, to be known as BPEA EQT, will stick to Baring’s focus on investing in the technology, healthcare and services sectors in the region, with a particular eye on growth companies in Southeast Asia, said BPEA EQT partner Kosmo Kalliarekos.

BPEA EQT will become a platform of EQT, the world’s third largest PE company with active ownership strategies – in which a fund is usually engaged with influencing the investees’ activities.

“This is very much a vote of confidence and a vote of optimism in Asia,” said Kalliarekos.

Kosmo Kalliarekos, partner with BPEA EQT. Photo: Handout
Kosmo Kalliarekos, partner with BPEA EQT. Photo: Handout
In recent years, investors have been increasing their exposure to alternative assets, such as private debt and real estate, for diversification and hedging against risk in the public markets, betting on better returns from those assets especially at a time when the traditional financial markets are being roiled by rising inflation and interest rates, according to JPMorgan Asset Management.

The Asia-Pacific region is expected to record a 4 per cent gain in gross domestic product this year, compared with 3.2 per cent globally, according to a prediction by the International Monetary Fund released on October 11.

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