Avnish Mehra
Vice Chairman & Head at Everstone Capital Asia Pte. Ltd.Avnish Mehra is Vice Chairman & Head, Private Equity, of Everstone Capital, the private equity business of Everstone Group, which manages c. USD 7 billion of capital. He is also responsible for leading investments in the global technology, media and telecom sectors and overseeing cross border private equity investments. Avnish is a member of the Investment Committee of Everstone Capital. Prior to Everstone, he played a leading role as Senior Director, in establishing the India business for Advent International, before which he was with Advent in Europe in the technology and media team. Avnish has also worked with leading firms in Asia and Europe, including HSBC, CIBC, ABN and Virgin Media. Avnish holds a Bachelor of Economics from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, with a Master of Economics from Cambridge. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder from the CFA Institute in the USA. Avnish is actively engaged on the boards of multiple current investments like Omega Healthcare, Apexon, Innoveo, Everlife, Translumina, Cprime, and MediaMint, having also been involved with past investments such as Sahyadri Hospitals, Servion, and Acqueon among others.
Xuan Yong Soh
Managing Director of Tower Capital Asia Pte. Ltd.Xuan Yong is a pioneer member of TCA and has 20 years of private equity and investment experience in Asia-Pacific. Before joining TCA, he was Investment Director at ICG where he led buyout and structured equity deals across Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Prior to this, Xuan Yong was with 3i and global hedge funds based in Singapore, Hong Kong and Greenwich. He began his career at Merrill Lynch in investment banking and private equity. Xuan Yong has a Bachelor of Arts (Distinction) from Cornell University with a triple major in Computer Science, Economics and Independent Major (College Scholar Program) and holds CFA and FRM charters. Besides being on the boards of portfolio companies, he sits on the Professional Development committee of the Singapore Venture & Private Equity Associate (SVCA).
Vorapol Supanusonti
Managing Director of Asia Partners Fund Management Pte. Ltd.Brook is the Co-Founder, Managing Director & Thailand Country Head of Asia Partners.
He was previously with Sea (NYSE:SE), one of the leading consumer internet companies in Southeast Asia, as a senior member of its corporate development team. At Sea, Mr. Supanusonti oversaw Sea’s investment program, focusing on Seed & Series A technology companies in Southeast Asia. He was part of the core team that led the company’s landmark initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in 2017, raising approximately US$1Bn in primary capital.
Prior to Sea, Mr. Supanusonti spent approximately a decade as a private equity investor focusing on Southeast Asia with TPG (2016-2017), General Atlantic (2013-2016), and Temasek Holdings (2009-2013). He played an active role in over US$2.4Bn worth of transactions in Southeast Asia in sectors spanning from technology, consumer, logistics, and education, to real estate.
Mr. Supanusonti earned a B.B.A in Finance and a B.Sc. in Economics from Singapore Management University where he was a Lee Kong Chian Scholar and graduated summa cum laude.
Sunil Mishra
Partner at Adams Street Partners Singapore Pte. Ltd.Sunil specializes in fund selection, due diligence, negotiations, and monitoring of Asian investments ex-China, specifically in India, Australia, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Korea. He also actively participates in all fund investment decisions and is involved in the sourcing, screening, execution, monitoring, and exiting of growth and buyout co-investments.
Sunil manages relationships with several of Adams Street’s managers and sits on advisory boards of more than a dozen private equity firms within the Adams Street Partners portfolio. He is currently Chairman of the Singapore Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (SVCA) and has been a member of the SVCA Board since 2016.
He is also a member of Adams Street’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Committee.
Junjie Tong
Vice President at Affinity Equity Partners (S) Pte. Ltd.Junjie TONG is currently an Executive Director with Affinity Equity Partners in the Southeast Asia team. Junjie joined Affinity Equity Partners, a Pan-Asia buyout firm with offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Beijing and Australia, in 2016. He has been involved in various transactions across the regions, notably the acquisition of a significant minority stake in Ho Chi Minh City Development Joint Stock Commercial Bank in Vietnam, one of the largest privately owned banks in Vietnam; the divestment of Island Hospital in Malaysia, which was divested at a record multiple for a single-hospital platform in Asia and represented one of the largest private equity exits in Malaysia. Most recently, Junjie led the acquisition of Golden Fresh, which is a leading branded seafood producer headquartered in Malaysia with a global sales and operations footprint.
Dennis Le
Vice President at Openspace Ventures Pte. Ltd.Dennis is currently a Vice President at Openspace Ventures where he covers seed-to-growth stage investment opportunities in Vietnam and Singapore. Dennis also sits on the Investment Committee of Ocular - Openspace's crypto-focused VC fund.
He was previously a Consultant at Roland Berger and Analysys Mason, where he focused on strategy development, operational improvement and transaction support in the TMT sector.
Dennis holds a CEMS Masters’ in International Management from the London School of Economics and HEC Paris, as well as a BBA (First Class Honours) from the National University of Singapore.
Joel Seow
Partner at Linklaters Singapore Pte. Ltd.Joel is a private investment funds lawyer with close to two decades of experience in top-tier investment funds practices in London and Singapore. He has extensive experience advising institutional and non-institutional LPs from Asia, Europe and the US, including sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, pension funds, corporations, family offices and fund of funds, on their investments into private funds.
He has also advised sponsors in Asia on the establishment of private investment funds across various asset classes and jurisdictions, with a particular focus on private equity, venture capital, real estate, infrastructure, hedge and special situations funds. Joel has worked on various non-traditional private investment fund setups such as platform structures, hybrid funds, club deals and open-ended illiquid funds.
He has also advised institutional and non-institutional LPs from Asia, Europe and the US, including sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, pension funds, corporations, family offices and fund of funds, on their investments into private funds.
Aside from transactional work, Joel also advises clients on the licensing and ongoing regulatory requirements of operating a fund management business in Singapore, as well as assisting with the submission of fund management licence applications to the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
David He
Partner at Gunderson Dettmer Singapore, LLPDavid spent the past decade working with hundreds of startups and VCs to close 600+ venture financing transactions, and has advised on M&A deals, JV partnerships, commercial contract matters and preparations leading up to a public listing. He has led negotiations involving parties based in the U.S., India, China, Middle East, Africa, Australia and all across Southeast Asia.
David has been recognized by The Legal 500 as a “Next Generation Partner” in the Start-Up and Venture Capital - Foreign Firms in Singapore category. He is recognized by Chambers and Partners in Singapore, and named by the India Business Law Journal’s A-List as one of the top 100 India-focused lawyers at international law firms. David was also listed as one of Asia’s 40 Under 40 Lawyers for 2022 by Asian Legal Business, a Thomson Reuters publication, which recognizes the top young lawyers from international and domestic firms across Greater China, South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and India. Most recently, David was featured as a guest on the BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech Podcast.
Previously, David practiced in the Silicon Valley office of Fenwick & West and the New York office of Davis Polk & Wardwell. David received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he served as the Chief Articles Editor of the Columbia Business Law Review. He received his B.S. in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University.
David has passed the Level I examination of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program. He is a fluent Mandarin speaker and is a member of the State Bars of California and New York.
Yeh Yun Lim
Associate Director, M&A of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PWC)Yeh Yun specialises in mergers and acquisition advisory for domestic and cross border transactions. She has over 15 years of experience, of which two years are spent in New York.
Yeh Yun helps clients in their merger and acquisition process from performing financial due diligence, vendor assistance, business plan reviews, post deal value creation and advising on completion matters. She works with both private equity and corporate clients.
Qualifications and Professional Associations
• Bachelor of Commerce, University of Melbourne
• CA (Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants)
• CPA (Certified Public Accountant of Australia)
Kyle Lee
Partner at WongPartnership LLPKyle LEE is the Co-Head of the WPGrow: Start-Up / Venture Capital Practice and a Partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions, and FinTech Practices.
His main areas of practice encompass venture capital and start-up matters, local and international mergers and acquisitions, fintech, and general corporate and commercial transactions.
Kyle is a member of the core working group for the development of the Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements (VIMA), an initiative spearheaded by the Singapore Academy of Law and the Singapore Venture and Private Capital Association, to allow early stage financing deals to be consummated efficiently.
Apart from his practice, Kyle is also an adjunct instructor with the School of Law at the Singapore Management University.
Kyle graduated on the Dean's List from the National University of Singapore and is admitted to the Singapore Bar. Prior to his university studies, Kyle relocated from Malaysia to Singapore after he was awarded the ASEAN Scholarship.
Jolynn Lim
Senior Associate at WongPartnership LLPJolynn LIM is a Senior Associate in the Mergers & Acquisitions and WPGrow: Start-Up / Venture Capital Practices in WongPartnership LLP.
Her main practice areas are corporate mergers and acquisitions with a keen focus on start-up and venture capital matters, and general corporate and commercial transactions. Jolynn represents investors, founders and emerging growth companies on corporate transactions across the fundraising spectrum from equity and bridge financing rounds, secondary acquisitions to exits.
Jolynn is a member of the core working group for the development of the Venture Capital Investment Model Agreements (VIMA), which is a suite of standard-form documents for venture capital fundraising transactions and an initiative spearheaded by the Singapore Academy of Law and the Singapore Venture and Private Capital Association.
Jolynn also assists with the teaching of a venture capital financing class in an entrepreneurial corporate law course offered at a top Singapore university.
She was awarded a distinction in the 2018 Part B Singapore Bar Examinations and received yearly tertiary scholarships in university.
Jiunn Yih Hoo
Director, Deals and Strategy of Deloitte & Touche Financial Advisory Services Pte. Ltd.Jiunn Yih is a Mergers and Acquisitions Director with over 18 years of collective experience in valuation, mergers and acquisitions and audit experience serving private equity, multinationals and local listed companies.
He has completed numerous engagements on acquisition and divestiture pricing, purchase price allocation, litigation support, and intellectual property. His experience spans across various industries which include Real Estate and Hospitality, Manufacturing, Retail / Consumer Business, Media & Telecommunications, and Technology.
As part of Deloitte’s Financial Advisory division, Jiunn Yih has considerable experience in buy-side financial due diligence as well as corporate valuation services that comprise valuation supporting acquisitions, litigation, RTOs and IPOs. He is in charge of the annual valuation of Ares Asia/Crescent portfolio and well as for MDI, Indonesia’s sovereign VC fund investment arm.
He was also the:
1. Engagement manager on the valuation of Singapore’s first successful loan application case using intellectual property as collateral by Masai Group International under iPOS’ IP Financing Scheme (“IPFS”).
2. He was the engagement manager in the independent expert team acting for both parties in a landmark arbitration requiring an estimation of the value of a 55% equity stake in a Myanmar based alcohol and beverage joint venture company.
3. He is the engagement director in charge of the valuation as well as the due diligence for Sembcorp and Keppel in their 2022/2023 landmark merger.
4. Engagement director for the sell-side advisory of Crescent to Ares Fund Management in 2023.
As per his duties, he is responsible for annual portfolio valuation for private equity clients, coverage of property valuations review and Deloitte outreach efforts in valuation seminars.
Nicholas Anscombe
Head of Private Capital, Southeast Asia Corporate & Structured Finance at The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation LimitedNicholas Anscombe joined HSBC in 2016 and leads the Southeast Asia mid-market leveraged finance team, working with fast growing private equity owned clients across the region.
Nicholas has 20 years’ experience structuring complex, cross-border, debt solutions for private equity clients across developed and emerging markets in Asia and Europe.
Nicholas manages a portfolio of leveraged loans of c. USD 500m.
Nicholas holds a Masters in International Securities, Investment and Banking from the ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, a Bachelors in Economics from the University of Bath, is a Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers, and is an Associate of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment
Ben Balzer
Partner at Bain & Company S.E. Asia Inc.Ben is a focuses on advising Private Equity clients on the full transaction lifecycle across deal origination, due diligence, value creation and exit.
Ben has been based in Singapore since 2012 and has executed >200 transactions across a range of countries and sectors. While Ben works across sectors, he has a particular interest in Financial Services and FinTech.
In addition to advising Private Equity clients, Ben also advises Financial Institutions across a range of topics including strategy, operations, digital and restructuring.
Prior to joining Bain, Ben founded and led the Private Equity practice of another leading consulting firm in Asia-Pacific and was also a cofounder of a private equity co-investment fund.
Varun Agarwal
Associate Partner at Bain & Company S.E. Asia Inc.Varun is an Associate Partner with Bain’s Private Equity Practice in SEA. Varun has been with Bain since 2012, and has worked across a range of geographies – India, USA and SEA
Varun has led >40 engagements with financial investor clients across a range of topics from commercial due diligence, sector scans through to exit value maximization, He has expertise across a variety of sectors including consumer products, retail, healthcare, financial services, hospitality and agriculture
Apart from Bain, Varun had a internship with the Corporate Strategy team of the National Football League (NFL).
Gerard Minjoot
Analyst at Preqin Pte. Ltd.Gerard leads our coverage of deal flow analysis and publishes our quarterly deal flow monitor report. He has over eight years of experience in the finance industry, with three years as an investment strategy analyst for one of the largest local wealth management firms providing research, due diligence, and portfolio management on retail mutual funds. He holds a BBS in Finance from the University College of Dublin (UCD).