Campbell Lutyens taps Bain & Co senior partner as APAC chairman

Campbell Lutyens has poached a Bain & Company senior partner to be its Asia-Pacific chairman.

Suvir Varma, who led Bain’s APAC financial investor practice, will continue to build up Campbell Lutyens’ fund placement, secondaries advisory and GP capital advisory practices in the region, according to a statement.

Varma has sat on Campbell Lutyens’ global advisory board since 2019. He will continue on at Bain as a senior adviser. Varma also serves on the board of Temasek portfolio company Constellar Holdings and on the advisory boards of private equity firms Navis Capital and CBC Group.

Varma’s appointment brings Campbell Lutyens’ APAC headcount to 23. The firm has advised on $7.6 billion in transactions across the past two years, the statement said.

APAC had around $2 billion to $3 billion of secondaries volume in the first half of this year, according to market participants and advisory reports.

Deals in the region this year include Coller Capital’s co-lead on a $1.5 billion single-asset continuation fund deal in the region alongside Korean fund manager Hahn & Company. Hamilton Lane also led on a $360 million GP-led process involving assets from L Catterton’s third Asia-focused vehicle.

Buyers continue to see opportunities in a region in which volatility and pricing uncertainty this year have hampered transaction volume.