Howard Marks to talk about post-pandemic investments

Veteran value investor Howard Marks, Oaktree Capital Management co-founder and co-chairman, will give a keynote speech on the topic of "Investing in the pandemic world and the current market outlook" for the largest alternatives summit in Asia next Wednesday.

The Korea Economic Daily is hosting the biannual alternatives summit ASK 2021 on May 12, where chief investment officers and senior managers of major South Korean pension and savings funds will likely share their views on post-pandemic opportunities.

Around 200 members from some 100 institutions both at home and abroad will participate either as speakers, or panelists amid growing expectations of a full-fledged economic recovery with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. 

The global conference will be held both online and offline simultaneously in Seoul. It consists of keynote speeches, and presentations and panel talks by asset managers or general partners (GPs). CIOs from Korean pension funds or limited partners (LPs) will talk about private equity/debt and hedge fund investments in a panel discussion, along with three LP panel sessions on the respective asset class of hedge funds, real estate and infrastructure.

At the beginning of the conference, the National Pension Service Chief Executive Kim Yong-jin will deliver a keynote speech about long-term, post-pandemic asset allocation plans for the world's third-largest pension scheme with assets of nearly $800 billion.

Howard Marks' online speech will come next.

NPS

Kim Yong-jin

Chairman and CEO

Oaktree Capital Management

Howard Marks

Co-founder and Co-chairman

After the two keynote speeches, two separate concurrent sessions will take place from 9:30 a.m.: one dealing with private equity/private debt and hedge funds, with the other focusing on real estate and infrastructure. 

GP PRESENTATIONS ON PRIVATE EQUITY/DEBT & HEDGE FUND

Kurt Björklund, managing partner of the UK-based Permira will give a presentation on the topic: "Global private equity: Investing for the future." Pomona Capital CEO Michael Granoff and Asia-based Managing Director Dan Kim will talk about "Evolution of secondaries." 

New York-based StepStone Group's co-CEO Scott Hart will speak about "Co-investments – what has changed?"

On private debt, Ken Kencel, president and CEO of Churchill Asset Management, a uni of the US asset manager Nuveen, will share his thoughts on "Middle market private credit opportunity."

HarbourVest Partners' Managing Director James Athanasoulas will talk about "Private credit: Demonstrating resiliency throughout uncertain times." BlackRock's Asian credit head Neeraj Seth will give a presentation about "Asian Private Credit."

As for distressed assets, GoldenTree Asset Management Partner and global telecom head Pat Dyson and Managing Director Jonathan Sachs will make a joint presentation about "Identifying value across a broad distressed opportunity set." Cerberus Capital Management's Co-Chief Executive Officer and Senior Managing Director Frank Bruno will touch on "Opportunities in the global distressed market."
 

Permira

Kurt Björklund

Managing Director

StepStone Group

Scott Hart

Co-CEO

Pomona Capital

Michael Granoff

CEO

Pomona Capital

Dan Kim

Managing Director

Churchill Asset Management

Ken Kencel

President and CEO

HarbourVest Partners

James Athanasoulas

Managing Director

BlackRock

Neeraj Seth

Asian Credit head

GoldenTree Asset Management

Pat Dyson

Partner and Global Telecom head

GoldenTree Asset Management

Jonathan Sachs

Managing Director

Cerberus Capital Management

Frank Bruno

Co-chief Executive Officer and Senior Managing Director

GP PRESENTATIONS ON REAL ESTATE/INFRASTRUCTURE

The first presenter in the real estate/infrastructure session will be Steve Orbuch, founder and president of Sculptor Real Estate of Sculptor Capital Management. He will talk about "Non-traditional real estate: Building a truly diversified portfolio with strong current income."  

AEW Capital Management's Managing Director and real estate securities head JT Straub will deliver a presentation on "US REIT opportunities in niche sectors." PIMCO's Senior Vice President and Alternative Strategist Nelson Yuan will center on "Opportunities in commercial real estate (CRE) lending." 

Regarding unlisted infrastructure assets, IFM Investors Executive Director Michael Landman will speak on the topic: "A decade of successful portfolio construction for unlisted infrastructure."

For environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing, Brookfield Asset Management Managing Director Natalie Adomait will touch on "Impact investing: Opportunities on the road to net zero." Head of London-based Infracapital Martin Lennon will speak about "Opportunities in the European energy transition."

Sculptor Capital Management

Steve Orbuch

Founder and President of Sculptor Real Estate

AEW Capital ManagementIFM Investors

JT Straub

Managing Director and Real Estate Securities head

PIMCO

Nelson Yuan

Senior Vice President and Alternative Strategist

IFM Investors

Michael Landman

Executive Director

Brookfield Asset Management

Natalie Adomait

Managing Director

Infracapital

Martin Lennon

Head

CIO PANEL DISCUSSION

Chief investment officers of the Public Officials Benefit Association (POBA: Jang Dong-hun), the Teachers' Pension (Lee Kyu-hong) and the Korea Scientists and Engineers Mutual-Aid Association (Huh Sung-moo) will participate in a CIO panel discussion on May 12. Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Co.' Executive Director Jeon Kyung Chul will accompany them to the discussion.

LP PANEL SESSIONS

For the hedge fund segment, three senior managers will share their views in a group discussion: Kim Jun Geun, NPS' senior portfolio manager of the private equity and venture capital investment division; KIC's senior director of the alternative investment division's absolute returns group Yoon Sunghyun; and Korea Post's insurance arm Deputy Director of hedge fund investment Lee Su Jin.

A separate LP session on real estate will be joined by the POBA's overseas real estate investment head Harry Song; Government Employees Pension Service's alternative investment head Ro Seung Hwan; Military Mutual Aid Association alternative investment co-head Jang Eun Ho Jang; and Kyobo Life Insurance Co.' overseas alternative investment head Kim Chan Woo. 

For the infrastructure LP session, panelists are NPS global infrastructure head Yoon Hyeyoung Yoon; KIC's infrastructure head Cha Hoon; Teachers' Pension's alternative investment division head Jung Young Sin; and Korea Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives's (KFCC) infrastructure finance department general manager Kang SungHoon.

Those sessions will be broadcast live from 9 a.m. at www.kedglobal.com and www.kedask.com for registers only.

Private Debt & Private Equity /Hedge Fund & Multi Asset

Oaktree Capital Management

Howard Marks

Co-Chairman

Federated Hermes

Patrick Marshall

Head of Private Debt and CLOs

Permira

Kurt Björklund

Managing Partner

Permira Credit

David Hirschmann

Head of Private Credit

Park Square Capital

Robin Doumar

Managing Partner

Nuveen

CKen Kencel

President and CEO, Churchill Asset Management

GoldenTree Asset Management

Pat Dyson

Partner & Global Head of Telecom

GoldenTree Asset Management

Jonathan Sachs

Managing Director

Pomona Capital

Michael Granoff

CEO

Pomona Capital

Dan Kim

Managing Director, Asia

Tikehau Capital

Mathieu Chabran

Co-Founder

Tikehau Capital

Olga Kosters

Head of Private Debt Secondaries

EQT Partners

Per Franzén

Partner and Co-Head of EQT Private Equity

Cerberus Capital Management

Frank Bruno

Co-Chief Executive Officer, Senior Managing Director

Cerberus Capital Management

Keith Read

President of Business Finance, Senior Managing Director

HarbourVest Partners

James Athanasoulas

Managing Director

The D. E. Shaw Group

Brian Sack

Managing Director, Director of Global Economics

ValueAct Capital

Mason Morfit

Partner, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer

Aberdeen Standard Investments

Russell Barlow

Global Head of Alternative Investment Strategies

GCM Grosvenor

Brian W. Sullivan

Managing Director, Private Equity Investments

PIMCO

Erin Browne

Managing Director and Portfolio Manager

PIMCO

Russell Gannaway

Managing Director and Portfolio Manager

PIMCO

Sharad Bansal

Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager

Hamilton Lane

Jackie Rantanen

Head of Product Management

Hamilton Lane

Andrew Durante

Associate Product Manager Vice President

Värde Partners

Brad Bauer

Partner and Deputy Chief Investment Officer

StepStone Group

Scott Hart

Partner & Co-CEO

StepStone Group

Marcel Schindler

Partner, Head of Private Debt

BlackRock

Neeraj Seth

Head of Asian Credit, BlackRock

Real Estate & Infrastructure

Infracapital

Martin Lennon

Head of Infracapital

IFM Investors

Michael Landman

Executive Director, Portfolio Management

Ridgewood Infrastructure

Sam Lissner

Principal

Macquarie Asset Management, Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets

Steve Gross

Head of Impact Investing

Nuveen

Scott Lawrence

Partner of Glennmont Partners

AEW Capital Management

JT Straub

Managing Director, Head of AEW Real Estate Securities

First Sentier Investors

Danny Latham

Partner, Head of Infrastructure Investments Australia & NZ

Cerberus Capital Management

Joshua Weintraub

Chief Executive Officer of Residential Opportunities and Senior Managing Director

HarbourVest Partners

Kevin Warn-Schindel

Managing Director

Sculptor Capital Management

Steve Orbuch

Founder and President of Sculptor Real Estate, Executive Managing Director

Aberdeen Standard Investments

Dominic Helmsley

Head of Economic Infrastructure

GCM Grosvenor

Scott Litman

Managing Director, Infrastructure Investments

PIMCO

Nelson Yuan

Senior Vice President and Alternative Strategist

Brookfield Asset Management

Natalie Adomait

Managing Director

Goldman Sachs Group

Scott L. Lebovitz

Co-Head and Co-CIO of Infrastructure

Goldman Sachs Group

Leonard Seevers

Managing Director

Goldman Sachs Group

Sebastien Gagnon

Managing Director

Date and time: May 12, 2021 at 8:30-17:45 (Korean standard time)

Venue: Four Seasons Hotel Seoul

Contact: ASK forum office (822-360-4209)

Host: The Korea Economic Daily

Sponsors: The National Pension Service and the Korea Investment Corporation

You can register online at www.kedask.com

By Sang-eun Lucia Lee

selee@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.