Ep 8 EQT's Ken Wong, Partner and Head of Asia Pacific, Infrastructure.

It all comes back to the DNA. The firms that know who they are - will know who to be. You can learn a lot about an investment firm by listening to what they say. Alt Goes Mainstream’s AGM Originals Series – The DNA: Capturing Culture – is dedicated to capturing the DNA of a firm by listening to what they say. The first season of The DNA stars EQT. In Stockholm, I sat down for conversations with nine EQT executives. Each executive came from different parts of the firm — and different parts of the world. Each had fascinating backgrounds and stories about how they ended up in private markets and worked to build EQT. But a single thread threaded throughout all of the discussions was the consistency and frequency with which each executive discussed the firm’s mission, vision, culture, and values. EPISODE 8 of Season One of The DNA stars Ken Wong, Partner and Head of Asia Pacific, Infrastructure. Thank you for listening to this Episode of THE DNA: Capturing Culture. You can stream all the episodes on our YouTube channel at @AltGoesMainstreamAGM Or read about the episode on my Substack at altgoesmainstream.substack.com And, of course, a special thank you to EQT. Please Subscribe!!! YouTube Videos and Shorts:    / @altgoesmainstreamagm   Subscribe to Alt Goes Mainstream: https://altgoesmainstream.substack.com/ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Follow Michael on LinkedIn: / michaelsidgmore #AltGoesMainstream #michaelsidgmore #alternativeinvestments #finance #wealthmanagement #privatemarkets #ria #marketing #podcasts #funds #portfolio #privateequity #financialmarkets #familyoffice #assetmanagement #financialmarkets #moneymanagement #asia #privateequityevolution #globaleconomy #eqt Chapters: 00:00 Introduction to Ken Wong, EQT Partner and Head of Asia Pacific, Infrastructure 01:47 Ken's career journey from Macquarie through private equity to EQT 03:12 Building EQT's infrastructure presence in Asia from three people to 50 04:50 Unique challenges of the Asian market, including language barriers and cultural fit 06:13 EQT's culture of transparency, non-hierarchical, and junior-first decision making 10:04 The Wallenberg family's legendary reputation and influence in Korea and Japan 14:49 Approaching Asia's diverse markets with local teams and cultural understanding 18:18 Mega trends driving Asian infrastructure: demographics, decarbonization, and AI 21:52 Active ownership approach applying private equity tools to infrastructure assets 31:33 Advice for LPs: Asia offers diversification with similar risk to developed markets