At Astrea Investor Day 2025, Margaret Lui, Azalea’s Chief Executive Officer and Chue En Yaw, Chief Investment Officer had an insightful conversation on Astrea private equity (“PE”) bonds.

Azalea’s Beginnings and the History of Astrea

They kicked off the conversation with a recap on Azalea’s beginnings and the history of Astrea. Azalea was set up in 2015 by Temasek with the mission of making private equity more accessible to a wider group of investors. Astrea PE bonds marked the first step of a phased approach towards making PE available to retail investors. It provided retail investors with an opportunity to invest in an investment-grade rated fixed income product which is backed by cashflows from PE funds.

Building upon that foundation, Azalea launched Altrium PE Fund in 2019. Since then, Azalea has developed a suite of equity products including Altrium PE Fund,  Altrium Co-Invest Fund, Altrium Sustainability Fund and Altrium Growth Fund to meet different risk and return preferences of accredited investors.

Personal Asset Allocation & Fixed Income Investing

When discussing asset allocation for one’s investment portfolio, Margaret highlighted the importance of investing in a diversified portfolio of safer assets such as fixed income, together with higher returning and higher risk growth assets like equities. She also shared that the right balance would depend on each individual’s financial goals and risk tolerance.

Key Features of Astrea PE Bonds

En Yaw continued by outlining some key features of Astrea PE Bonds:

1. Lower risk profile compared to equities; 
2. Regular coupons paid every six months with a fixed maturity; and
3. Rated by a reputable international agency to provide additional comfort to retail investors.

Margaret and En Yaw also took the opportunity to address some common questions that investors have on Astrea bonds.

1. Pricing of Astrea PE Bond

On how Azalea determines the interest rate for each Astrea PE bond, Margaret provided insights into the bookbuilding process, explaining how institutional investors play a key role in determining the bond pricing before it is offered to retail investors.

2. US Dollar Tranche for Retail Investors

En Yaw highlighted how investors have been able to subscribe to a USD-denominated tranche since Astrea 7, which provides more investment options for retail investors since many have become more accustomed to having USD exposure.

En Yaw also stressed that foreign exchange risk is a factor that retail investors should consider when investing in the USD tranche, as investments may be subject to exchange rate fluctuations if their investment currency base is not in USD.

3. Allocation Policy

Margaret explained the Astrea bond allocation process, sharing that Azalea's goal has always been to allocate to as many investors as possible.

Given the strong demand for Astrea bonds, Margaret highlighted that the allocation process ensures that smaller investors will get some allocation for the bonds even if it is not to the full amount they applied for. At higher amounts, applicants would have to be balloted and were allotted only a portion of their applications. Interested parties may refer to the balloting table published at the end of every issuance for more details.

Leadership Succession and Azalea’s Future

En Yaw will succeed Margaret as CEO on 1 April 2025, while retaining his CIO responsibilities. 

On sharing his vision for Azalea, En Yaw highlighted that in addition to being a regular issuer of Astrea PE bonds, the team will look for new ways to innovate to expand retail offerings and enhance investor access to PE. 

Watch the full replay of the fireside chat here:

Azalea hosted Azalea Investor Conference 2024 in July and we were honoured to have more than 200 guests, comprising institutional investors, family offices and our private banking and industry partners.

Broadening Access to Private Equity: Azalea’s Story

The conference started with an opening address by our Chief Executive Officer, Ms Margaret Lui. Margaret highlighted the successful journey of Azalea’s flagship Astrea and Altrium platforms in fulfilling our mandate to make private equity accessible to a broader group of investors. Margaret also set the stage by emphasising how private equity is an attractive asset class to navigate the volatile investment environment.

A Fireside Chat with Mr Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara: Building Resilience in an Uncertain World

Our keynote speaker Mr Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings and Temasek International, delivered a highly anticipated fireside chat with Ms Margaret Lui. We thank Dilhan for sharing his wealth of experience and insights on how we can build resilience in an uncertain world.

Navigating Geopolitics and What It Means for Global Investors

Mr Pierce Scranton, Managing Director of Institutional Relations and Deputy Head of North America at Temasek International, spoke about geopolitical trends and how they affect the global investment landscape. His perspectives on US politics, especially in an election year, were especially helpful in contextualising the rest of our discussions around forces which shape interconnected global markets.

Demystifying Artificial Intelligence

Next, we dived into the transformative trends of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with Mr Raviraj Jain, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners — a multi-stage venture capital firm with extensive experience investing in AI. Raviraj covered important themes on investing in the AI and technology space, both in products and companies. Moderated by Mr Chue En Yaw, our Chief Investment Officer, the session helped to strip away the layers of ambiguity that often cloud our understanding of AI, and allowed us to visualise how AI will continue to transform the world we live in.

Finding Growth in the Current Landscape

Following which, we zoomed in on investment strategies of our PE fund managers, with a focus on growth investing. Ms Jacqueline Hawwa, Partner at TPG Growth which targets earlier-stage and high-growth companies, highlighted TPG’s investments across sectors based on market dynamics and their prudent approach to tech investing across market cycles. Mr Diwakar Chada, Managing Director of Investments at Azalea, moderated the Q&A segment where we discussed opportunities and challenges that Jacqueline foresees in the growth investing landscape.

Driving Capital to Sustainable Solutions

After which, we segued into two panel discussions. The first panel featured Mr En Lee, Managing Director and Head of Sustainable and Impact Investments in Asia at LGT, and Mr Eric Lim, Chief Sustainability Officer at the United Overseas Bank. Both panellists are instrumental in steering their firms’ pursuits to drive capital to sustainable solutions. In conversation with moderator, Ms Alisa Chhoa, Managing Director, General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Azalea, the panellists provided valuable insights on industry trends and regulatory developments around sustainability and emphasised how an ecosystem approach is critical for achieving systemic change.

Optimising Your Allocation to Private Markets

Our next panel comprised Limited Partners at different stages of their journey in investing in private markets – Mr Alvin Goh, Chief Investment Officer at Finexis Asset Management, Ms Lim Li Ying, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer at Singapore Labour Foundation, and Ms Winnie Hau, Investment Director from The University of Hong Kong. Moderated by Ms Tang Hsiao Ching, Managing Director of Investor Solutions and Marketing team at Azalea, the panellists shared their perspectives of asset allocation in private markets. Indeed, there is no one-size-fits-all solution and each investor should consider their unique risk/return profiles and resources when it comes to allocation to private markets.

Conclusion

We would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to all speakers for taking the time to share their insights, and our guests for their participation. We are heartened by the support given to Azalea and it was indeed a privilege to have built valuable connections at the conference. We look forward to seeing you at the next event!

In an enlightening fireside chat at Astrea Investor Day 2024 held on 6 February 2024, Christopher Tan, CEO of Providend, shared his experience in investing for retirement. Christopher's journey in the financial services industry, which began in 1998, culminated in the founding of Providend, a fee-only wealth advisory firm. He emphasized a "philosophy of sufficiency," advising against chasing maximum returns due to associated risks, and instead focusing on obtaining reliable returns to meet one's needs.

Planning for Retirement with a Multi-Bucket Strategy

Christopher highlighted five significant risks that retirees face, offering strategic insights into mitigating these challenges to ensure financial stability in retirement. 

• Inflation Risk – the prospect of reduced purchasing power over time 
• Longevity Risk – the chance of outliving their retirement savings 
• Healthcare Risk - the potential for high medical expenses, which can be a considerable burden in retirement 
• Sequence of Return Risk – the risk of lower or negative returns due to market downturns when withdrawing funds in the early years of retirement, leading to a more rapid depletion of the portfolio 
• Overspending Risk – the risk of overspending or underspending during retirement years  

To address these risks, Christopher outlined a multi-bucket strategy that involves compartmentalizing assets into income, cash/near-cash, and equities/bonds buckets.  

• Income Bucket: This bucket includes assets that provide a reliable and steady income stream, such as CPF Life, annuities, bonds, and other fixed-income instrument
• Cash/Near-Cash Bucket: Comprising cash, CPF OA and SA, fixed deposits, Singapore savings bonds, T-bills, and other similar liquid assets, this bucket is designed to cover immediate and short-term expenses in the first several years of retirement. It serves as a financial buffer during market downturns, allowing retirees to avoid selling equities at low prices, thus addressing sequence of return risk
• Equities and Bonds Bucket: The rest of the retiree's portfolio can be allocated to a mix of equities and bonds for a long investment horizon, with the proportion depending on the individual's retirement years left (i.e. investment horizon), risk tolerance, and income needs

He stressed the importance of integrating assets into a comprehensive spending plan to ensure financial security in retirement. 

Astrea PE Bonds and Diversification 

Discussing Astrea PE Bonds, Christopher pointed out that Astrea bonds, backed by cashflows from private equity funds, provide diversification in investors’ portfolios. 

Key Takeaways for Investors 

The fireside chat concluded with the following key takeaways:  

• To plan for retirement early 
• To maintain a diversified portfolio 
• To ensure a steady income stream through various market cycles

Watch the full replay of the fireside chat here: