Private equity firm KKR & Co. has appointed Ashish Shastry, managing partner and member of the investment committee for the Southeast Asia-focused PE firm Northstar Group, to head its operations in the region.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that KKR hired Shastry from the Singapore-headquartered PE firm that manages $2 billion in committed equity capital dedicated to investing in growth companies in Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia.
Shastry, KKR's most senior hire in the region since 2014, will join later this year and is likely to take over part of the role now held by Ming Lu, who oversees Southeast Asia and is co-head of Asia private equity, Bloomberg said in a report.
An economics graduate from Princeton University, Shastry joined Northstar in 2012. Prior to joining Northstar, he spent 13 years at TPG where he last worked as the partner responsible for the PE firm’s business in Southeast Asia. Before joining TPG, Ashish was an investment banker at Lehman Brothers in New York.
Founded in 2003, the Northstar Group has raised five private equity funds and invested in more than 30 companies across the banking, insurance, retail, oil and gas, coal and mining services, technology, telecom, and agribusiness sectors. It has invested over $2.8 billion with its co-investors in the Southeast Asian region, according to its website.
Some of its recent investments include PT Indaco Warna Dunia, an Indonesian decorative paint maker. Its $90 million venture capital fund has invested in ConneXionsAsia Pte. Ltd, The Chope Group Pte. Ltd, Crayon Holdings Pte. Ltd, Oway Inc. and TradeGecko Pte. Ltd.
In Southeast Asia, KKR recently co-invested in a $550 million round in GO-JEK, Indonesia's leading on-demand mobile platform. It also first invested $159 million in Masan Consumer in 2011 with a second follow-on investment of $200 million in 2013, making it the largest private equity investment in Vietnam.
KKR has invested more than $2 billion across Southeast Asia from 2005 and manages investments across multiple asset classes including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit and hedge funds.
Like this report? Sign up for our daily newsletter to get our top reports.
