“Asia private equity 2025 preview: exits and liquidity”; Euan Rellie interviewed by MergerMarket

BDA Managing Partner Euan Rellie spoke with MergerMarket about the year ahead:

“Positioning the current market situation as the natural fallout from a benign five-year period, Euan Rellie, a managing partner at BDA Partners, which advises many GPs on exits, describes the last 18 months as “the most difficult I’ve seen in my 30-plus year career.”

“Assessing the prospects for private equity exits of all kinds, BDA’s Rellie expects India and Japan to remain in demand, consistent but below-the-radar activity in Korea, and a gradual revival in more emerging markets like Vietnam where the impact of the global M&A slowdown was most severe.

“He is also optimistic about China, observing that with valuations now so low, opportunistic investors – including some strategic players – will look to do more. For example, while a mid-size branded food asset in India currently trades for 6x revenue, similar businesses in China are available for 6x EBITDA. This often means the sale price in China is one-fifth that of India.

“In Asia more broadly, BDA has found that private equity investors paid up for assets that in many cases have fallen short of growth projections over the past five years. Facilitating exits became harder when interest rates went up because differing perceptions of the macro environment among buyers and sellers led to price dislocation. More recently, however, Rellie has seen a shift in mood.

“We’ve had a lower close rate than usual in the first three quarters of 2024, but we are seeing a rash of deals coming through,” he said. “With interest rates coming down, everyone wants to get things done. A lot of private equity firms haven’t done much in the past 18 months and they can’t hold forever.”

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About BDA Partners

BDA Partners is the global investment banking advisor for Asia. We are a premium provider of Asia-related advice to sophisticated clients globally, with over 25 years’ experience advising on cross-border M&A, capital raising, and financial restructuring. We provide global reach with our teams in New York and London, and true regional depth through our seven Asian offices in Mumbai, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo. BDA has deep expertise in the Chemicals, Consumer & Retail, Health, Industrials, Services, Sustainability and Technology sectors. We work relentlessly to earn our clients’ trust by delivering insightful advice and outstanding outcomes.

BDA Partners has strategic partnerships with William Blair, a premier global investment banking business, and with DBJ (Development Bank of Japan), a Japanese Government-owned bank with US$150bn of assets. bdapartners.com