NEW YORK – Even for finance’s most risk-tolerant players – private equity funds (PEFs) – 2020 is proving a grim year.
But in this bear market, Weijian Shan, global chairman and chief executive officer of PAG, Asia’s largest private equity firm, is a raging bull.
PEFs everywhere are scrambling to shore up investments hit by the pandemic, especially companies dependent on discretionary spending.
Despite an estimated US$1.4 trillion in available capital for the global PE industry, acquisitions have declined dramatically during the plague. So, too, has fundraising as fund managers seek to reassure investors there is a silver lining to the Covid-19 storm.Â
Defying the devastation, PAG is busy doing deals. So far this year, it has closed a major insurance deal in China, announced a major acquisition in India and sold a portfolio company in Korea.
