Q&A - Independent Southeast Asia mid-market M&A adviser / private family office partner
Brief Background:
- Based in Southeast Asia
- Started in a SEAn monetary authority to asset management, to a PE for internship, to boutique IB.
- Currently an independent M&A/capital markets adviser
- Privately handling family office matters
Example of deals done:
- Arranged a preferred equity financing for a residential building
- Advised (sell-side) on the sale of a real estate asset to a logistics company
- Advised (buy-side) on the acquisition of a distressed 1,600-hectare asset
- Arranged a joint venture deal of a family’s 100+ hectare property with luxury global hospitality developer
- Arranged debt financing for an IT end-to-end solution deal with a local telecommunication conglomerate
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Thanks for doing this.
As an independent advisor, where do you actually source funds from for equity/debt financing as you mentioned in your deals?
What has it been like setting up your own shop/brand in terms of landing new business and marketing yourself? (Business development)
Since I worked in one of my country's top boutique M&A houses, I was able to build a relationship with the buy-side parties that I have worked with in the past i.e. private equity funds, family offices, HNWI's, commercial banks, etc.
Luckily, the name of the institution does not matter as much as the person who is handling the deal -- at least maybe for Southeast Asian mid-market transactions. There is a certain level of importance in the personal relationship one makes in this region (and market, I would say). As one of the PE's said after I e-mailed them that I left the boutique house that I worked for: 'Our relationship is with you and not the firm you work with. We hope to continue working together should you pursue to work with a different firm or privately.'
Most of the clients are referred. Thankfully, there is not much need to market myself.
How important is shared background, mutual friends, language when building relationships in your SEA country? Have found that in many (e.g. Indonesia), it is quite important.
got any private equity deals?
Yes, but the challenge has always been the deal size. I handle min. USD 10MM deals, and even boutique PE's has started looking at north of 20MM range.
Thoughts on family offices' considerations/mindset when investing in SEA-based VC funds?
Based on my experience, at least in my country, the tech-VC world is not that palatable to families here. There is some affinity to deals that have a certain weight on hard assets.
OP thanks for this - noticed you also cover debt arrangement - can you share the most active lev fin / credit shops in Asia?
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