Welcome to our 2024 Asia Pacific Private Capital Investment Professional Compensation Survey. This report is part of a long-standing series of compensation surveys focusing on private equity investment and operating professionals around the world. The goal of these reports is to create a comprehensive picture of the compensation of key executives in private equity (PE) firms, including how compensation is evolving across strategies and levels as private capital grows and matures in Asia Pacific. 

Our private capital team and consultants across industry practices spent significant time engaging with clients across the deal cycle to understand executive compensation in Asia Pacific. We hope this survey is useful and we welcome questions and comments. 

Highlights

The private capital market in the region is continuing a secular growth trend, and sentiment is better in most markets across the region, though it remains somewhat calibrated. A younger, affluent clientele and high growth potential could improve sentiment further.

The improvement in sentiment is particularly noticeable in Australia, where 71% of respondents—up from 30% in 2022—said market sentiment is somewhat or much better compared to 18 months ago. The figures for Hong Kong, Singapore, and India are also notably improved, in the mid-50% range compared to the high 30% range two years ago. 

In terms of strategy, fund of funds is seeing a strong rebound: 81% of respondents—up from 38% in 2022—now believe sentiment is much or somewhat better and is aligned with the overall momentum in the market. Sentiment is also generally positive across other strategies, except for credit or special situations, where 47% of respondents feel market sentiment is about the same or somewhat worse than in 2022.

Hiring has been robust, and our survey shows an upward trend in cash compensation. Indeed, 63% of respondents reported an increase in base compensation from 2023, and 50% reported an increase in bonus compensation. Partners and managing directors were the only titles that saw a decline in total cash compensation from 2022 to 2024, perhaps suggesting a combined effect of flat compensation for newly promoted partners and managing directors and bonus pressure for existing ones.

For full organization and compensation data, download the full report 

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Mohd Arsalan and Nigel Loh for their contributions to this report.

About the authors

Shadi El Farr (selfarr@heidrick.com) is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ Dubai and Riyadh offices and regional managing partner of the Financial Services Practice in Asia Pacific and the Middle East; he is also a member of the Private Equity Practice.

Ritu Khandelia (rkhandelia@heidrick.com) is a partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ Mumbai office and a member of the Financial Services and Private Equity practices.

Stephen Zhang (szhang@heidrick.com) is a partner in the Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai offices and a member of the Financial Services and Private Equity practices.