KKR Bets Southeast Asia Will Be a Trade War Winner

KKR & Co. is seeking to invest more in Southeast Asia, where companies are poised to benefit from the U.S.-China trade dispute, according to the private equity firm’s co-founder Henry Kravis. “The longer that the dispute with China and the U.S. goes on, I think you are going to see more opportunities” for investment in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Kravis said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur last week. The openings “come up where companies are saying: ‘I need to diversify my supply chain”’ as a result of the trade dispute, Kravis added. The 10-economy Asean bloc is seen as a natural magnet for new factories, thanks to low production costs and improving infrastructure. The region was the top choice for about one-third of the more than 430 American companies in China that have moved or are considering moving production sites abroad amid the trade tensions, according to a recent survey. Read more here