“The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented”

Dennis Garber FRS, Nobel Laureate, Inventor of the Holograph and Professor of Electron Physics at Imperial College

 

Houghton Street Partners is built on the premise of being a nimble and an innovative fund manager, relying more on wit and insights rather than on bulk and size. It is this principal that constantly spurs us to stay one step ahead of the private equity game not only in Asia, but also globally. For example, Houghton Street has spent the last five years building and accumulating an independent database of close to 5,000 private companies for its target space and used computational finance to identify targets as part of its origination process. This is a fundamental departure from traditional private equity origination processes even in the US where private equity is highly dependent on the large pool of investment banks, corporate finance boutiques and independent intermediaries. The use of computational finance, artificial intelligence techniques and database technologies allow Houghton Street to take the uncertainty out of the origination process which has not evolved beyond its largely relationship-driven approach for nearly three decades although Private Equity has outgrown its cottage industry status to achieve its current size and industry standing.