The factors that make South-east Asia’s top conglomerates stand out

BAIN & Company’s analysis of 177 South-east Asian conglomerates across two decades reveals an enormous performance gap.

The top quartile achieved a 20 per cent annualised total shareholder return between 2016 and 2025, while the average conglomerate managed just 4 per cent.

What separates top performers from others involves two factors: where they compete and, more importantly, how they transition into new sectors.