“The last two to three years have been challenging. Trends which create uncertainty, such as deglobalisation, geopolitical risks and the advance of artificial intelligence (AI), will continue to have an impact on investors’ outlook and create both challenges and opportunities,” Loo says.
In its outlook for the private markets in 2025, Pitchbook says Asia Pacific (Apac) remains small. “Compared with its US counterpart, the private market in Apac remains small despite having a total GDP around 40% higher. China’s venture capital (VC) market is the second largest in the world by country, yet its activity is less than half of that occurring in the US. Through the first three quarters of 2024, private equity (PE) fundraising across all of Asia was US$200 billion ($270 billion) lower than the total raised in the US,” PitchBook says.
Activity in the private equity market in Apac has been subdued. According to data compiled by Pitchbook, deal activity in both the number of deals and dollar value fell y-o-y in 2022 and 2023 (see chart) before rebounding in 2024. Exits have continued to fall in value. This was echoed by Dickson Loo, managing director of private investments at SeaTown Holdings International.
