WATCH: Aberdeen Standard’s McDonald on Asia’s rising influence in PE

In this one-minute video, Graham McDonald who heads Aberdeen Standard Investments’ global private equity business, talks about the growing role of Asia in the firm’s private equity portfolio and global trends that drive investment.

The $735.5 billion investor, formed in August 2017 through the merger of UK insurer Standard Life Investments and Aberdeen Asset Management, now employs 50 investment professionals across 14 offices in the region, including Mumbai, Bangkok, Jakarta, Shanghai and Sydney.

Speaking to Private Equity International as part of an in-depth interview, McDonald said that Asia’s fundamentals – the growing demographic, pace of change and disruptions brought about by technology – are key reasons why Asia has become “an important part of its global portfolio.”

Transcript:

We have had a longstanding relationship in Asia. We have a programme that’s been on the go since the late 1990s and we continue to embrace that and we continue to see that growing.

Asia continues to perform a significant role in our portfolio especially with the growth dynamics of Asia, the changes in technology, the macroeconomics – it’s a fundamentally important part of our global portfolio.

I think we are seeing [Asia’s] increasing influence. We are seeing a continued increase in the pace of change and the embracement of technology growth capital. I see that the fundamentals are firmly in place and I see that continuing.

I think we’re always on the alert for global trends and it’s important to have investment professionals on the ground in our various jurisdictions whether that’s in US, whether that’s in Europe or whether that’s here in Asia. And then it’s important to share that knowledge and share these experiences. We are fixated about change, we are fixated about disruption, we are fixated about technology and growth capital.