Beware of the private equity greed trap

Hong Kong

WITH investors around the world facing zero to negative interest rates, the amount of money flowing into Asia's private equity firms is gathering pace. According to the Centre for Asia Private Equity Research, some US$34.7 billion has been invested in the region this year, up from US$32.2 billion in the same period of 2015.

This is despite existing monies raised, but not yet put to work, soaring to a record US$208 billion in September, Preqin data show.

The attraction becomes clear when you look at returns in Asia versus the US. One-year internal rates of return for private equity funds in the region averaged 15.8 per cent in the year to Dec 31, compared with 9 per cent in North America. But with greed comes temptation, and that's something yield-hungry i…