Warburg Pincus president Jeffrey Perlman has been chosen as the new chairman of the US-ASEAN Business Council, an organisation that promotes trade and investment activities between the US and Southeast Asia.
Perlman will lead board oversight of the council, the private equity giant said in a statement.
“At Warburg Pincus, he has successfully expanded the company’s business in Asia Pacific, co-founding and sponsoring some of the largest real estate companies in the region and partnering with entrepreneurs to build successful investing franchises in Southeast Asia,” said Ted Osius, President and CEO of the US-ASEAN Business Council.
“I spent over a decade of my career in Southeast Asia, and the region is important to me both personally and professionally,” Perlman recalled. “The relationship between the US and ASEAN countries is more important now than ever,” he added.
Established in 1984, the council has over 175 members which are the largest US companies conducting business in the ASEAN region, such as Oracle, UPS, ExxonMobil, Google, Cisco, CocaCola, Citi, and Tesla.
The council says on its website that it represents the US private sector in promoting mutually beneficial trade and investment relationships between the US and Southeast Asia, which is set to become the fourth-largest economy in the world by 2030.
Southeast Asia is also the US’s fourth-largest export market.
“ASEAN is the number one destination for US investment in the Indo-Pacific and has received more than $338 billion in US foreign direct investment, more than what the US has invested in China, India, Japan, and South Korea combined,” the council website reads.
Warburg Pincus is one of the most active American private equity firms in this region, having invested in companies including regional platforms such as real estate manager ESR Group, Oona Insurance, and data centre operator Princeton Digital Group, as well as country champions GoTo (Indonesia), MoMo (Vietnam), GCash (the Philippines), and others.
Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus is one of the oldest private equity firms, currently managing more than $84 billion in assets.