BDA strengthens senior team in Singapore

BDA Partners is pleased to announce the addition of two managing directors to the Singapore team. Mark Webster, Partner and Managing Director, previously based in BDA’s Shanghai office, is relocating to become Head of the Singapore Office. Lars Freitag has also joined BDA Singapore as Managing Director.

Mark Webster joined BDA in 2005 in Shanghai. He has built a strong record of leading cross-border deals across a range of sectors, including Services, Consumer, Health and Advanced Industrial. He heads BDA’s Services sector coverage globally. His recent transactions include the sale of Henkel’s Asian specialty chemicals business to Nippon Kayaku, Carlyle & CDIB’s sale of Leyou to Warburg Pincus, and Kerry’s acquisition of Tianning Flavours. Mark will bring deep institutional knowledge to strengthen BDA’s capability in SE Asia.

Lars Freitag has nearly 20 years’ experience in investment banking across sectors including Industrials, Environmental, Food and Agriculture, Financial Services, and TMT. Lars started his career as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. in London and Singapore. He also worked for Citigroup Salomon in Hong Kong, and for TC Capital in Singapore, with roles in M&A execution, financial sponsor coverage, special situations/proprietary investments, and structured & leveraged finance. His recent transactions include the privatization of 800 Super Holdings in Singapore, the disposal of Cherry Valley Farms to Beijing Capital Agribusiness & Citic Agri Fund Management, the sale of ECO Industrial Environmental Engineering to Beijing Capital Group, and multiple transactions for Metito Holdings Ltd and its shareholder Gulf Capital.

Between them, Mark and Lars have a broad network of blue chip clients including Alibaba, Bright Foods, China Digital TV, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical, Shanghai SVA and SinoPharm, and a track record of successful transactions for financial sponsors including Capital Group Private Markets, Carlyle, Gulf Capital, KKR, Navis Capital, and Warburg Pincus. These relationships will complement and expand BDA’s activities across SE Asia, where M&A activity remains robust despite COVID disruptions.

Paul DiGiacomo, Senior Managing Director of BDA Partners, said, “The addition of two senior and deeply experienced M&A bankers to our SE Asian practice bolsters our ability to deliver execution excellence for our clients. BDA was founded in Singapore and New York in 1996; SE Asia remains a core focus of our business, performing strongly through 2020. Markets are obviously volatile this year, but we are succeeding in getting deals done. We’re carefully and deliberately growing market share.”

About BDA

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 20 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 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

US securities transactions are performed by BDA Partners’ affiliate, BDA Advisors Inc., a broker-dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). BDA Advisors Inc. is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and SIPC. In the UK, BDA Partners is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In Hong Kong, BDA Partners (HK) Ltd. is licensed and regulated by the Securities & Futures Commission (SFC) to conduct Type 1 and Type 4 regulated activities to professional investors.