Former L Catterton managing partner and Aspirational Consumer Lifestyle Corp CEO Ravi Thakran is training sights on the more developed parts of Asia (China, Japan and Korea) as well as countries still on the path to development (India and Southeast Asia) for investments from his two private equity funds.
GCC Asia Growth Fund, a small-cap investment vehicle, will focus on the Middle East, India and the emerging markets in Southeast Asia, while Asia 3.0, a mid-cap fund, will look at investments in Japan, Korea China, Southeast Asia and Australia.
Speaking at DealStreetAsia’s Asia PE-VC Summit 2020, Thakran said, “Asia 3.0 is all about building world-class consumer brands. Most Asian entrepreneurs come to us, not for capital, but for the value add: particularly when navigating the journey from product to brand. They do not want to learn how to make the product cheaper, or earn more gross margin, but on how to sell it for a better price by becoming a brand.”
He was speaking to Stefania Palma, Singapore correspondent, Financial Times, in a keynote session titled ‘SPACs & building global consumer brands – The Asia opportunity’.
Thakran left L Catterton Asia earlier this year as managing partner and chairman and LVMH as group president, south and Southeast Asia and Australia /New Zealand. However, both LVMH and L Catterton remain partners in a SPAC that Thakran is putting together that intends to bring European and American companies to Asia and build them to be listed on the NYSE.
The SPAC will have a broad focus on categories that have matured in the US and Europe but are just picking up steam in the Asia region: health, wellness, plant-based proteins and milk alternatives.
Read on to find out more about Thakran’s response to critiques of SPACs and views on why Asia will lead the US and Europe in recovering from COVID-19.
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