Permira, the private equity firm with a European heritage and global reach, is pleased to announce the promotion of Henry Chen and Alex Emery to partners and their appointment as co-heads of Asia, in charge of the development of the firm across Asia Pacific.

Henry Chen joined Permira in 2008 as head of its Hong Kong office. Recently he was involved in the Permira funds’ investment in Asia Broadcast Satellite. Prior to joining Permira, Henry spent nine years at the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs, where he co-headed the General Industrials Group, Asia ex-Japan, which covered consumer retail, healthcare, industrials and transportation sectors. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Henry was a corporate finance lawyer with Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York and Hong Kong.

Alex Emery joined the London office in 2002 and moved to Japan to help establish Permira's first office in the region in 2005.  Since 2008, he has headed the Tokyo office.  He has worked on numerous investments including Arysta LifeScience, Cortefiel, Galaxy Entertainment Group and New Look. Prior to joining Permira, Alex was at McKinsey & Company in London. Alex Emery will now be based in Hong Kong.

Yuji Kato has taken over the role of head of the Tokyo office.  Yuji joined Permira in 2006 and worked on the Arysta LifeScience investment. Prior to Permira, Yuji has worked for GE International, Morgan Stanley and the Japanese Ministry of General Affairs.

Henry Chen and Alex Emery will spearhead Permira’s continued expansion across Asia, with a particular focus on Greater China, Korea and Japan. Permira has been one of the most active private equity firms in Asia over the past five years, with its latest fund having deployed more than US$2bn of capital in three companies: the Macau gaming and hotel business Galaxy Entertainment (2007), the Tokyo-based international agrochemicals business Arysta (2008) and the fast-growing, HK headquartered satellite business Asia Broadcast Satellite (2010). Permira has two offices in Asia today (Hong Kong and Tokyo) and ten investment professionals dedicated to sourcing attractive investment opportunities across Asia. The team is also complemented by senior industry advisers including David Ho, former President of Nokia in China; Yoichiro Furuse, formerly CFO of Sanyo and SVP of Mazda; Yasu Tsuchiya, formerly SVP of GE Japan and Hiro Yoshihara, former International Vice Chairman of KPMG.

Commenting on the appointment, Veronica Eng, Chairperson of Asia at Permira, said:

“Alex and Henry have been working closely on establishing Permira’s presence in Asia over the past couple of years and together they will continue to expand the team and the firm’s franchise in Greater China, Korea and Japan. With three well-performing investments and US$2bn deployed in the region since 2005, they have a strong platform to build on in the years ahead.”