堪培拉——养老基金巨头AustralianSuper计划大幅增加对亚洲私募股权领域的投资，这是其全面拓展该地区业务的一部分，重点将放在日本、印度和韩国。
CANBERRA -- Pension fund giant AustralianSuper plans to significantly boost its investment in private equity in Asia as part of a broad push into the region, with a focus on Japan, India and South Korea.
AustralianSuper亚太区私募股权负责人方莉莲（Lilian Fang）在最近接受《日经亚洲》采访时指出，未来五年，该基金在亚洲的资产配置将“超过一倍”，目前这一比例约为20亿澳元（合14亿美元）。
Over the next five years, the fund will "more than double" its allocation in Asia, which currently stands at around 2 billion Australian dollars ($1.4 billion), Lilian Fang, AustralianSuper head of private equity for the Asia-Pacific, told Nikkei Asia in a recent interview.
该基金是澳大利亚最大的养老基金，也是全球第17大养老基金，管理资产超过4300亿澳元。澳大利亚的退休基金正努力扩大在全球市场的影响力，以寻求更高回报并分散风险。
The fund is the largest of Australia's pension funds and the 17th biggest in the world, with more than AU$430 billion under management. Australia's retirement funds have been pushing to extend their presences in global markets to seek higher returns and to diversify risk.
方莉莲表示，尽管AustralianSuper早在2014年就首次投资了亚洲的一家私募股权管理机构，但此前在该资产类别上的投资“主要”集中在美国和欧洲。不过，此后亚洲的私募股权投资者已变得“更加专业”，这一点从控制性收购数量的增长可见一斑——即企业获得公司多数股份并接管其运营。
Fang said while AustralianSuper made its first investment in a private equity manager in Asia in 2014, its focus in the asset class had been "very much" on the U.S. and Europe. But private equity investors in Asia have since become "much more sophisticated," as illustrated by the growing number of control buyouts, where a firm gains a majority stake in a company and takes over its operations.
她说：“我们看到的是过去20年间管理机构逐渐成熟的过程。因此，我们现在对亚洲市场产生了更浓厚的兴趣。”根据毕马威（KPMG）最近的一份报告，澳大利亚的退休储蓄行业资产规模已超过4.5万亿澳元，该行业整体持有澳大利亚证券交易所（ASX）30%的股份。
"What we're seeing is the maturity of managers that has happened over the last 20 years," she said. "Hence, we're a lot more interested in looking at Asia." Australia's superannuation sector has assets exceeding AU$4.5 trillion, according to a recent report by KPMG, with the industry collectively owning a third of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
报告指出，整个行业对私募股权的资产配置比例从2010年的2.3%上升到了去年的4.3%。AustralianSuper则计划将其整体私募股权配置比例从5%提高到7%以上。
Across the sector, private equity allocation increased from 2.3% in 2010 to 4.3% last year, according to the report. AustralianSuper is looking to increase its overall private equity allocation from 5% to more than 7%.
在过去一年中，AustralianSuper在该地区新增了三家管理机构。该公司采用合作模式，即向外部私募股权管理机构提供资金用于设立基金，并在其每笔投资中共同参与投资。
AustralianSuper has added three new managers in the region over the past year. The firm uses a partnership model, where it provides external private equity managers with capital for their funds and co-invests alongside them for each investment they make.
方表示，由于公司治理改革，包括东京证券交易所推动企业提高资本效率的举措，日本将上市公司私有化的机会正日益增多。此外，随着日本大型集团将重心转向核心业务，并出售子公司及业务部门，私募股权基金也抓住了这些机遇。
In Japan, there is a growing number of opportunities to take public companies private, Fang said, due to reforms to corporate governance, including the Tokyo Stock Exchange campaign to push companies to improve capital efficiency. Private equity funds have also been capitalizing on opportunities as Japanese conglomerates shift their focus to their core businesses and sell off subsidiaries and business units.
澳大利亚超级年金基金（AustralianSuper）支持的私募股权管理人还关注那些创始人年事已高且缺乏明确继任计划的公司。“我们更倾向于寻找机会集中的领域，而非特定行业，因此这些机会显然分布在不同类型的行业中，这正是我们所喜欢的，”她说。
AustralianSuper-backed private equity managers are also eyeing companies that have older founders and no clear succession plans. "We're targeting more where the opportunities are, rather than sectors, so obviously they're across different types of sectors, which is what we like," she said.
“我们希望构建一个多元化的投资组合，不想在……先进制造业或医疗行业过度集中……从这一角度来看，日本确实非常有趣且极具吸引力，”方表示。
"We want to create a diversified portfolio. We don't want to be overweight in ... advanced manufacturing or healthcare ... Japan has been really interesting and really attractive from that standpoint," Fang said.
方指出，韩国也存在类似机会，但当地市场规模较小且竞争更为激烈。而对于印度，则需要采取更谨慎的策略。
Fang said similar opportunities exist in South Korea, although the market there is smaller and more competitive. India warrants a more careful approach, she said.
“印度是一个增长极为迅速的市场，因此涌现出许多非常有潜力的行业，无论是金融服务还是医疗领域——我们也看到工业领域出现了一些机会……但估值常常是一个挑战，”她说。“在印度，你必须对支付的价格保持高度审慎。”尽管人工智能热潮引发了人们对美国科技公司估值飙升的广泛担忧，但方表示，人工智能可以成为私募股权投资者的潜在工具，因为它能够提升企业生产力。
"India is an extremely high growth market, so there's a lot of really interesting sectors, whether it's in financial services or healthcare -- we're seeing some in industrial as well ... but valuation is often a challenge," she said. "You really need to be very disciplined in what you pay in India." While there has been broader concern about the surging valuations of U.S. technology companies amid the artificial intelligence boom, Fang said AI serves as a potential tool for private equity investors as it can be deployed to increase business productivity.
“实际上，对于许多管理人而言，人工智能是他们在所投资行业中实现运营价值创造的重要杠杆，”她说。
"AI is actually an operational value creation lever to a lot of the managers for the industries that they invest in," she said.