Yale Daily News

Yale College, the Yale School of Management and Yale-NUS College in Singapore are joining forces to offer a special seminar on private equity in Asia.

The five-week non-credit course, which will be held simultaneously in New Haven and Singapore, is titled “Money, Wealth Accumulation and Societies: Raising Capital for Private Equity in Asia.” It will be instructed by Kevin Lu from Partners Group, a private equity firm with $127 billion assets under management. Lu currently serves as the chairman of the firm’s Asia business and the head of its Singapore office.

“The goal of the program is to introduce classic knowledge in private equity and asset management, and also specific developments of this field in Asian emerging markets,” said Song Ma, associate professor of finance at SOM and the co-organizer of the program. “We want students to think about not only finance but also cultural differences, social issues, and how we can solve social issues with economic tools.”

The program consists of five sessions covering the essentials of impact investing, wealth management and equity fundraising, in addition to other topics. It will focus on countries like China and Singapore and explore their critical roles in the global equity markets.

Vice President of Engagement at Yale-NUS Trisha Craig ’93, who was also involved with organizing the course, explained that the program explores private equity while specifically considering the rapid economic growth that has occurred in Asia in recent years.

“Why this topic? Well, in a really short time, Asia has become a massively important space in terms of private market investments,” Craig said. “Even if students are not majoring in finance or economics, or don’t plan a career in private equity, this is a really interesting opportunity to understand this part of the world.”

Ma said that the sessions will include a blend of classic, modern and future issues, and will also feature a variety of guest speakers who will share their experiences.

Last year, Yale College and Yale-NUS collaborated to offer a similar six-week intensive program, also about private equity in Asia and instructed by Lu. The course’s guest speakers included c-suite executives from top financial firms such as The Carlyle Group and GIC.

“We thought it would be really interesting for the School of Management to get involved because we have a strong asset management program,” Ma said.

After last year’s course, some students were given the opportunity to work directly with Lu to publish articles in economic journals. 

Akanksha Madan NUS ’23 and Hongyi Shen ’24 each worked with Lu on articles — both of which were published in the World Economic Forum.

“At the end [of the program], there was an internship opportunity for researching private markets, which I was curious about,” Shen stated. “We had weekly meetings with [Lu] … and we also had a lot of events for interns and speakers.”

Madan and Shen both highlighted the diversity of backgrounds, interests and levels of experiences they encountered in the classroom.

Craig added that she hopes humanities majors take the course, in addition to those primarily interested in economics or finance, because the course takes a special interdisciplinary approach to private equity in Asia.

“[The program] is a conversation-starter,” Ma said. “We are going to give you fundamentals, and depending on your own career path, ambition and interest, you are going to take part of what you learned in this class for your own career and life.”

Applications for this year’s course are due on Sep. 9.