Thoughts from the Road: Asia

I recently spent time with many of my KKR colleagues in China and Japan, including Changchun Hua (who serves as our economist for Greater China and Northern Asia), meeting with business executives, monetary policymakers, government officials, and our KKR deal teams. This was my second trip to the region this year and the sixth since COVID. Lucky or good, my timing for my recent trips to Asia has been quite fortuitous. Last September, for example, China had a ‘whatever it takes’ moment the day I landed, while Japan elected a new Prime Minister that very same week (see Thoughts from the Road Asia, October 2024, for details). Meanwhile, my first trip to Asia this year (during the first quarter of 2025) occurred near the height of trade tensions. That backdrop led to multiple high-level discussions on how the global economy would function as it transitioned from an era of benign globalization to one of great power competition.

This visit, however, topped them both, as the mood in China around a potential major trade deal was running quite ‘hot’, while in Tokyo both Japanese election results and a Trump trade deal had just occurred. Against the backdrop of increased intra-Asia connectivity (part of our global thesis that across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, we are moving towards the emergence of more regional ‘hub-and-spoke’ models), we continue to ‘lean in’ as a firm to the region. Indeed, Asia continues to be a major focus for KKR, given strong underlying growth and the subsequent demand for capital that this growth requires across corporate, financial services/insurance, infrastructure, real estate, and credit verticals. All told, we now have over 600 employees across 9 offices in Asia managing more than $75 billion on behalf of our clients, with another $4.5 billion (cost, not fair market value) invested in the region across KKR’s balance sheet.

What did we learn this trip?