KUALA LUMPUR: Affin Hwang Asset Management Bhd (Affin Hwang AM) today launched its private equity business, Bintang Capital Partners Bhd (Bintang), a subsidiary of Affin Hwang AM and registered with the Securities Commission Malaysia.
Affin Hwang AM managing director Teng Chee Wai said the launch of Bintang marks the culmination of nearly two years of effort by the team to build the private equity business, an initiative led by Johan Rozali-Wathooth who joined Affin Hwang AM as deputy managing director in June 2016.
"When we first came up with the idea of setting up a private equity business in 2015, I realised that the strong demand from both our institutional and high net-worth clients for more sophisticated investment solutions, including private equity, will only grow over time.
"We came to the conclusion that in order for us to successfully capture this opportunity, we had to move quickly to establish a private equity business with its own proprietary deal flow and a dedicated team,” Teng said in a statement today.
Bintang is the formalisation of Affin Hwang AM’s foray into the private equity market, which began in June 2017 with their maiden transaction, the buyout of Bitsmedia Pte Ltd, the company behind the world’s leading Muslim lifestyle app, Muslim Pro.
This buyout was completed in conjunction with Bintang’s strategic Singaporean partner, CMIA Capital Advisors.
Soon Poh Lean, Theresa Lim and Andrew Tan joined the Bintang investments team.
Poh Lean joins Bintang as a Partner, whilst Theresa and Andrew join as Investment Director and Vice President respectively.
All three previously worked for RHB Investment Bank Bhd’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) department, where they were a core part of the regional M&A advisory team responsible for executing landmark M&A transactions on behalf of the bank’s corporate clients.
The Bintang team will be jointly led by Johan as managing partner and Poh Lean as partner.
"We are delighted and excited to welcome Poh Lean, Theresa and Andrew to the Bintang team. They are a valuable addition to our team, and I have no doubt that their strong track record in running M&A transactions, combined with the relationships they have in the market, will greatly augment Bintang’s capabilities," Affin Hwang AM deputy managing director Johan Rozali-Wathooth said.
"I feel that the team we have assembled brings together a strong combination of investment, strategic advisory & execution, technological / operational, and project management capabilities, which will allow us to bring a high level of holistic value-add to our investee companies.
"In turn, I believe this will translate into Bintang’s delivery of superior returns for our investors," Johan said.