Greenpark taps demand for Asian secondaries with new Hong Kong office

Greenpark Capital has opened an office in Hong Kong to address growing interest from Asian investors looking to gain exposure to private equity through secondaries, the firm said.

The firm has appointed Chin Chin Teoh from Bank of America Merrill Lynch to lead the new office. She assumes the newly created role of head of Asia, and will be responsible for Greenpark’s Asia-Pacific operations. She began work last week, the firm said.

Marleen Groen, chief executive of Greenpark, said in a statement: “The new Asia operation is a crucial element of our global expansion plans, and will improve our relationships with local instiutions that are becoming increasingly interested in private equity secondaries solutions.”

Greenpark is planning to make further hires in due course in a bid to create what one source said would be a “substantial” team in the region.

At Merrill, Teoh was a managing director and co-head of the bank’s Asia private equity group. She spent 14 years at the bank, initially in its leveraged finance group before moving to its global private equity team where she focused on Asia.

Greenpark said she would play a leading role in its emerging markets initiative with the International Finance Corporation, and will also be responsible for sourcing investments across the region for Greenpark’s funds.

Greenpark Capital won a mandate from the IFC in July last year to raise and manage a secondaries fund that will target the emerging markets. The fund will have a $500 million target, and IFC, the private investment arm of the World Bank, is anchoring the fund with a $100 million commitment and will share its extensive knowledge of  emerging markets with the firm. The fund will initially target more mature markets in Asia, but will expand into Latin America and Africa, according to market sources. 

“Institutional investors and general partners in Asia are rapidly opening up to private equity secondaries,” Teoh said, “and the region is set to become a major source of capital and deals. This is a unique opportunity to join one of the world’s most established private equity secondaries players and to help build a major new operation in the Far East.”