KKR furthers its impact investment capabilities with a new hire to spearhead efforts in sourcing opportunities that generate both financial and social returns.
Wong Chee-Wei joins the American private equity giant’s Singapore office as its head of global impact for Asia, KKR said, where he will be responsible for sourcing investment opportunities and supporting «impact-related portfolio companies» across Asia Pacific.
Prior to his new role, Wong was most recently Tailwind Capital’s New York managing director. He was previously also with EQT for nine years in New York and Singapore where he was an investor and board member of sustainability-focused tech and healthcare companies.
Impact Investing
Whilst still relatively nascent, the financial services industry is raising awareness with regards to sustainability across green loans and ESG-friendly (environmental, social and governance) investing. Akin to the latter area, impact investing targets companies with activities that can intrinsically align financial and social returns often related to United Nation’s sustainable development goals.
And KKR is not a new player within the impact investing universe which tends to be less populated by listed companies. Wong’s hire follows the closing of KKR’s global impact fund last month which reportedly raised $1.3 billion and has since deployed capital into six investments.
