Trade war pushes private equity into SE Asia

As an investment destination, Southeast Asia is not what it used to be. Once investors focused mainly on commodities and industrials out of the region, but now its growing new economies are bringing new opportunities in the search for yield.

Switching out of the more traditional investment sectors and tapping into the growing opportunities thrown up by new technology and burgeoning consumer brands was high on the agenda at a January private equity conference in Hong Kong. 

Thanks to the trade war which continues to drag on, private equity is looking to Southeast Asia - and especially Indonesia - with increasingly large cheques as opportunities in...