DB Private Equity positions for Asia growth

Deutsche Bank is positioning its private equity investment management arm for growth in the region, unveiling two senior appointments and an increasing focus on developing Asia.

The firm has hired Dongbai Wang from Adams Street Partners in Singapore as its head for North Asia coverage. She started at the beginning of this year in Singapore in the newly created role.

The firm also revealed that its head of South and Southeast Asia coverage, Alexis vin Dziembowski (pictured left), had relocated to Singapore, from Germany, last November. He has covered the region since 2006 and his remit remains the same.

DB Private Equity was only formed in April last year through combining the private equity group of Deutsche Bank private wealth management, the secondaries private equity team of RREEF, and Sal Oppenheim Private Equity Partners.

The bank’s Asia-Pacific team has been headed since 2005 by Peter Pfister, who notes that Asia, particularly developing Asia, represents an increasingly attractive investment environment for private equity.

“We see an increased bifurcation between private equity funds who really create value and others who are just capital providers and market-timers,” he notes.

“China and India particularly remain two of the most attractive developing markets for private equity, if done right: that is, taking a long-term view and partnering with entrepreneurs to provide strategic and operational expertise to focus on institutionalising businesses and creating market leaders.”

DB Private Equity’s Asia-Pacific team manages a portfolio of investments completed since 2004 and focuses on primary and secondary fund investments and direct co-investments. The team is also responsible for client coverage across the region.

The group now manages over $8 billion of private equity client assets and has offices in Cologne, London, New York and Singapore. It has a global team of more than 30 investment professionals.

Chris Minter, global head of DB Private Equity, notes that as the private equity industry matures in Asia, he expects it to become an increasingly important source of well-managed, high-growth assets. Accordingly, the firm is determined to strengthen its client relationship focus locally.