Evercore taps buyout veteran as Asia-Pacific secondaries head

Evercore has hired the Singapore head of one of Australia’s largest buyout firms to lead its secondaries business in the region.

Shane Gong joins the investment bank’s private capital advisory unit as a managing director, according to a statement. He will be based in Singapore and will focus on institutional investors and fund sponsors.

“We are delighted to welcome Shane to Evercore to spearhead Evercore’s PCA business in Asia,” said Nigel Dawn, Evercore’s head of private capital advisory. “We look forward to building on our strong existing Asia franchise to further service Asia-based institutional investors and fund sponsors.”

There is rising demand from regional private equity investors in Asia for secondaries options, Gong said in the statement.

Gong has 20 years’ experience in private equity and investment banking across Asia-Pacific. Most recently, he was Singapore head of CPE Capital – formerly CHAMP Private Equity – responsible for regional direct growth and buyout investments, investor relations and fundraising. He has prior experience at NM Rothschild & Sons as head of Asian Consumer Sector M&A and at the Macquarie Group.

The appointment comes amid an increase in Asia-Pacific secondaries sales: the proportion of Asian sellers of total global deal volume jumped last year to 22 percent, up from 10 percent a year prior, according to Evercore’s latest annual secondaries report.

Evercore has promoted at least five of its secondaries professionals over the last month, including Europe private capital advisory head Lea Lazaric Calvert to senior managing director and to the partnership in February, and New York-based Ryan Rohloff to managing director this month, as Secondaries Investor reported.