EMPEA ASEAN Meeting: Mid-Year Market Update

1 September 2020, 9:00 am SGT (31 August 2020, 9:00 pm EDT)

Join EMPEA for the upcoming EMPEA ASEAN Meeting: Mid-Year Market Update on 1 September 2020 at 9:00 SGT (31 August 2020 at 21:00 EDT).

The meeting will be led by EMPEA Board Member and Asia Council Chair Brian Lim, Head of Asia and Emerging Markets for Pantheon Ventures, and EMPEA ASEAN Representative Steven Okun on mid-year market insights for the ASEAN region.

EMPEA’s Managing Director of Research, Jeff Schlapinski, will share exclusive insights from EMPEA’s forthcoming Mid-Year 2020 Industry Data & Statistics with a focus on Southeast Asia and LP sentiment toward the region and Geoffrey Tan, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, DFC (formerly OPIC) will provide an update on DFC’s Indo Pacific initiative that was launched in early 2020. Also joining will be Nicolas Marquier, Country Manager, Singapore Hub at IFC, with perspectives on the impact of COVID on new financing, portfolio management, and exits.

In addition, the discussion will cover how fund managers can better incorporate climate risk into their existing ESG frameworks, with an eye to the Environmental Risk Management Guidelines recently released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

The session will also provide a forum for discussion and participation from attendees is encouraged.

EMPEA members receive complimentary access to the meeting. For information on how to register please email okuns@empea.net.


Agenda:
  • Welcome and Introductions
    • Steven Okun, ASEAN Representative, EMPEA
    • Brian Lim, EMPEA Board of Directors Vice Chair, Asia Council Chair, Partner and Head of Asia and Emerging Markets, Pantheon Ventures
  • Regional Overview
    • Nicolas Marquier, Country Manager, Singapore Hub at IFC
      • IFC’s perspective on the impact of Covid on new financing, portfolio management and exits
    • Jeff Schlapinski, Managing Director, Research, EMPEA
      • Findings from the 2020 Global Limited Partners Survey
      • 1H investment trends for SE Asia
  • ESG and Sustainability Developments on Climate Risk
    • Steven Okun, ASEAN Representative, EMPEA
      • Review of MAS Consultation Paper on Proposed Guidelines on Environmental Risk Management
      • Purpose and Structure of Guidelines
      • Practical Application within Existing ESG Global Best Practices
      • Continuing Industry Engagement
  • Open Discussion of EMPEA Members

Discussion Leaders:

Steve Okun
ASEAN Representative,
EMPEA

Steven Okun, EMPEA’s ASEAN Representative, is Founder and CEO of Singapore-based APAC Advisors, a public affairs consultancy working with clients on ESG, sustainability and stakeholder engagement. Steve has lived and worked in Asia since 2003, most recently for EMPEA member KKR, and previously with global logistics company UPS. As KKR’s first Director of Asia Public Affairs, Mr. Okun’s responsibilities encompassed government affairs, communications, stakeholder engagement and sustainability. His responsibilities included KKR’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives. He created and led KKR’s impact investing pro bono program in the region, a model for strategic philanthropic engagement.

Jeff Schlapinski
Managing Director of Research,
EMPEA

Jeff Schlapinski is the Managing Director of Research at EMPEA, where he leads a team producing industry data, analysis and in-depth reporting on private equity, private credit, infrastructure and real assets investing in emerging economies. In addition to providing bi-annual market intelligence to EMPEA’s members, Jeff manages EMPEA’s annual Global Limited Partners Survey and is a regular author of EMPEA special reports and research briefs. He also interacts frequently with the media, fund managers, institutional investors, and industry advisors in order to fulfill EMPEA’s broader mission of informing the investment community on the private capital opportunity set in emerging markets. Jeff graduated from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) at Georgetown University with a B.S. in International Economics.

Brian Lim
Head of Asia and Emerging Markets,
Pantheon Ventures

Brian is a Partner and Head of Pantheon’s Asia and Emerging Markets Investment teams. Prior to joining Pantheon, Brian worked as a Portfolio Director at CDC Group and before that worked at Watson Wyatt advising institutional investors on private equity and investment strategy. Brian is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries, holds a BSc in Actuarial Science from City, University of London, and a MBA from the London Business School.

Pantheon is a longstanding investor across Asia and developing local economies committing over $3 billion of capital to 149 primary and co-investment GP funds since 1983, and has been physically present in the region since 1992. Today the firm has expanded its local presence to include Hong Kong, Seoul and Bogotá, and has expanded into new investment and geographic markets across the region. Pantheon manages just under $39 billion of AUM for its 495+ institutionally-focused global clients, of which around $4 billion is directed to Asia and Emerging Markets strategies. Having established its first dedicated Asia commingled fund in 1994, Pantheon has since established a total of nine Asia-focused commingled programs.

The firm is an EMPEA Leadership Circle member and is active on three EMPEA Councils: Asia, Latin America and Africa. Brian Lim chairs the Asia Council and serves on EMPEA’s Board of Directors.

Nicolas Marquier
Country Manager,
IFC

Nicolas Marquier is the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Country Manager for Singapore.

Mr. Marquier was previously the adviser to the chief executive officer at IFC, where he contributed to the development and implementation of IFC’s strategy and the implementation of complex organizational changes.

He has more than 15 years of experience designing and leading a broad range of strategic and business transformation projects, and has worked in multiple industries across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Geoffrey Tan
Managing Director, Asia Pacific,
U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) (formerly OPIC)

Geoffrey Tan is a Managing Director at U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).  As DFC’s regional representative based in Bangkok, Thailand, he is responsible for Asia-Pacific business development.

Mr. Tan has worked in emerging markets investment financing for over 20 years.  Since joining Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) – now DFC – in 2003, he has worked primarily on power, renewable energy, water, toll roads, and port projects, but has also diversified into future flow and financial institutions transactions.  These projects have been across Latin America, the Middle East, Central, and Eastern Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Prior to OPIC, Mr. Tan worked for the Chase Manhattan Bank (now JPMorgan Chase) in New York, Singapore and Hong Kong focusing on project and structured finance, and for Emerging Markets Partnership in Singapore focusing on private equity infrastructure investments.

Mr. Tan is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Virginia, and also attended the Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium.