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- Rishi, welcome, what are the key factors

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that have driven the growth

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of the private market investment industry

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to get us to where we are today?

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- So there's a few contributing factors.

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I think we have to
acknowledge first and foremost

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that the very low interest rate policy

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that has been in effect
for the better part

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of the last decade, if not longer,

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certainly had a hand to play in it.

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Because all of the real money
investors, pension funds,

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endowments, foundations,
insurance companies,

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they're all effectively
managing to deliver a return

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that matches their
liabilities, their obligations.

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And to obtain that
return was very difficult

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when interest rates were near zero.

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So a natural offset to
that was taking on some

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of that complexity and
illiquidity risk premium

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that is embedded in
private markets investing

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and capturing that.

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And so that has driven a
fair degree of interest

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and growth, initially by
institutional investors.

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And then when the merits

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of the underlying asset classes
became much more evident

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in terms of the lower volatility,

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the focus on real value, long-term drivers

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of fundamental value creation
as opposed to sentiment

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and a lot of noise embedded in markets,

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it compounded.

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So the interest has grown exponentially.

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And it is not surprising now
that private markets across

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private equity, real estate,
credit and infrastructure

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are much more mainstream
for us as institutions

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as well as for the private wealth sector.

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- What do you see as some

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of the most promising growth opportunities

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in the digital economy?

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- So I think the talk
of the town nowadays,

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of course, not surprisingly,
is generative AI, right?

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But if you take a step back,

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the application of not just generative AI

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but the broader benefits of
digitalization is highest

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in the corporate sector,
in the business segment.

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So if you take the perspective
that I want to invest

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not just in the gold rush,
or not in the gold rush

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but in the providers of
the picks and shovels,

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the places that we see
being most interesting

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in terms of the digital
economy are the providers

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of the basic foundation that will enable

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the application of AI,
quantum computing, et cetera,

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for businesses being the
cloud, being quantum computing,

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being the SaaS infrastructure
that supports it and so on.

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So, you know, the broader
ecosystem surrounding AI

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is I think really where
the digital economy

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has got a lot to offer
as an investment theme.

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The other place that I would want to add,

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because sometimes we kind of miss it,

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is climate innovation, right?

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A lot of innovation is going to be needed

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and is coming through

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to address the risks
surrounding climate change.

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And that innovation is naturally relying

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on a lot of digital
application of both software

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and hardware to refine current
processes within industry

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and across different segments of industry

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to make them more sustainable
and climate resilient.

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And that, I think is going
to be a major opportunity

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in the next three decades.

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- How do business leaders
strike the right balance though

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between innovation and risk management?

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- Yeah, okay, that's a tricky
question because, you know

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I've spent the better
part of the last 30 years

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in Investcorp, in aggregate
almost 40 plus years now

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trying to do exactly that.

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Because at the end of the
day, you have to recognize

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that your investors are giving you capital

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on one hand to support that agility

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that you bring to the table,

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that entrepreneurial spirit,

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being fleet-footed in terms

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of identifying attractive
themes and then opportunities

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within those themes, executing upon them,

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but just identification is not enough.

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You have to execute upon them and

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create value and then monetize them.

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So all that requires that mindset

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of entrepreneurship.

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But at the same time,

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they're also relying on us particularly

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as an institution to deliver
that safety net to them.

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That risk mitigation,
that mindset of 'there

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is an upside to be captured,
but with contained downside'

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And that is really where

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that institutional spirit
also has a role to play.

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So, you know, we kind of use
the tagline at Investcorp.

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You know, Investcorp is a firm into which

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culturally we've tried to
embed the twin concepts

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of entrepreneurial spirit
with an institutional mindset.

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And it requires hard work
because that is culture,

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as you know, propagates through osmosis.

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You know, you don't dictate it,

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you don't write it down in books.

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It happens, you know, through
my engagement with my team,

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their engagement with their team and so on

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and it propagates.

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And that's really where I think we

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have done exceptionally well so far.

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- Rishi, thank you so much.
- It's a pleasure.