Private equity firms in Asia need to do more: study

PRIVATE equity firms in Asia need to work at value creation for their portfolio companies as they lag behind their Western counterparts in this respect, a report by AlixPartners said.

The Building Better Businesses; A Survey Report on Private Equity Value Creation in Asia study is based on interviews with 96 regional and international private-equity general partners (GPs).

Sixty-six per cent of respondents said that private-equity firms in the region are less able to drive operational improvements (measured in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) compared to such firms in developed markets owing to the various cultures, languages, infrastructure and regulations in Asia. China is seen as the most challenging market for operational work, while India is singled out as the second.