Creating value through Private Capital

Investment Philosophy

Investment Strategy

Our focus is on integrated debt, mezzanine investment and equity investment for mid-risk / mid-return profiles and primarily seek asset-backed opportunities with stable cash flow. Our private capital solutions are sector agnostic and cover Southeast Asia, primarily Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Australia.

Our Team

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  Shirley Crystal Chua

  Group CEO

  Shirley is the Founder and Group CEO of Golden Equator. Her strong entrepreneurial track record in corporate strategy and business incubation has led to her opinions being sought out by professionals across industries. Shirley started her career... Read more

  Shirley Crystal Chua is Founder and Group CEO of Golden Equator, a holding group of businesses committed to creating value beyond the financial. The Group seeks to realise a world where communities, technology, capital and learning converge to propel human potential and inspire new possibilities.

  Shirley is known in the industry as a future-focused leader, who is committed to developing solutions that empower the future generation while focusing on grooming the next generation of leaders. Through the Group, she builds an innovation ecosystem that fuels meaningful connections, bringing different communities together to amplify opportunities for businesses.

  A serial entrepreneur, Shirley has also successfully co-founded each business and fund under Golden Equator, leveraging more than 20 years of experience in finance across private capital, venture capital, and wealth management areas and her natural flair in business building. A trusted UHNW family advisor turned entrepreneur-investor, Shirley is deeply involved in the startup and finance communities. She is highly regarded as a seasoned practitioner in these fields and is often sought out by entrepreneurs, UHNW families and business leaders to share her insight.

  Since its founding in 2011, Golden Equator has grown within and beyond the finance industry, a testament to her strong business acumen in building agile and sustainable businesses. Shirley leads a team of 10 senior executives who share her belief in developing concepts and people to be focused on the future. They also share her ethos of “guided empowerment with ownership” empowering their staff to be creative and innovative in their approach, driven by curiosity.

  A strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, Shirley is also in the Financial Women’s Association Singapore’s pioneering batch of female champions. She is passionate in helping younger female leaders and entrepreneurs as well as NextGen initiatives actively.

  Outside of work, Shirley has an adorable little munchkin and a passion for cooking and wine appreciation. In the past few years, she started performance coaching and stretch project initiatives to develop younger professionals to reach their potential and to further impact in their area of influence.

  Before becoming an entrepreneur, Shirley spent a decade with Citibank and American Express. While growing up as a young adult, Shirley spent seven years working with teenagers and young adults to help them cope with the challenges of their everyday life through counselling programmes.

  Shirley graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences, majoring in Economics and Southeast Asian Studies.

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  Gary Tiernan

  CEO – Capital, Golden Equator Group

  Gary Tiernan is CEO of Capital at Golden Equator Group, where he plays a dual role heading our multi-family office Golden Equator Wealth as well as the Group’s other Capital businesses including venture investment arm Golden Equator Ventures and Golden Equator Partners.... Read more

  Gary Tiernan is CEO of Capital at Golden Equator Group, where he plays a dual role heading our multi-family office Golden Equator Wealth as well as the Group’s other Capital businesses including venture investment arm Golden Equator Ventures and Golden Equator Partners.

  A seasoned international private wealth and finance leader, he joined Golden Equator with more than 3 decades of experience in investment and private banking, and independent asset management from bases in London, Switzerland, and Singapore. He has held multiple senior management roles in major financial institutions throughout his career and has an extensive leadership track record in building regional and global teams which supported clients from Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

  Gary holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Accounting and Financial Management from Sheffield University in the United Kingdom and is a graduate of the IMD Business School’s Program for Executive Development in Switzerland.

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  Jacob Jiwon Kim

  Managing Partner

  Jacob's experience across corporate strategy, acquisition and fund management includes a 10-year tenure at Korean Investment Holdings as Managing Director of KIARA Advisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of KIH, managing its alternative investment business... Read more

  Jacob's experience across corporate strategy, acquisition and fund management includes a 10-year tenure at Korean Investment Holdings as Managing Directorof KIARA Advisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of KIH, managing its alternative investment business. Prior to KIH, he worked at Kookmin Bank and Softbank nPlatform in Korea. Jacob is a CFA holder, and completed his B.S. in Business Administration from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, and his MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Read less
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  Raymond Chung

  Managing Partner

  Raymond began his career as an Analyst at Deutsche Bank in Japan, and spent time at notable financial institutions including ING Barings Securities, Standard & Poor’s, and Barclays Capital. He was most recently with Nomura Group, working with... Read more

  Raymond began his career as an Analyst at Deutsche Bank in Japan, and spent time at notable financial institutions including ING Barings Securities, Standard & Poor’s, and Barclays Capital. He was most recently with Nomura Group, working with various investment and asset management divisions across Japan and Korea on real estate and infrastructure deals. Raymond is fluent in English, Korean and Japanese and graduated from UC Berkeley. Read less
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  Yangduk Cho

  Associate Director

  Prior to joining Golden Equator Partners, Yangduk worked for the PwC Deal Advisory division in Korea and Singapore. Throughout his tenure at PwC, he has extensive experience in providing investment advisory services to Korean conglomerates, multinational... Read more

  Prior to joining Golden Equator Partners, Yangduk worked for the PwC Deal Advisory division in Korea and Singapore. Throughout his tenure at PwC, he has extensive experience in providing investment advisory services to Korean conglomerates, multinational companies, and global PE firms in their M&As and private investments. Yangduk graduated from London School of Economics and is a licensed holder of United States Certified Public Accountant. Read less
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  Phuong Nguyen

  Operations

  Phuong works with the investment team in the areas of fund establishment, investor onboarding, financial reporting and compliance. She brings to her position technical knowledge in audit, assurance and compliance. She started her career with BDO LLP... Read more

  Phuong works with the investment team in the areas of fund establishment, investor onboarding, financial reporting and compliance. She brings to her position technical knowledge in audit, assurance and compliance. She started her career with BDO LLP – member firm of a global audit and accounting network, performing due diligence and risk analysis on clients in order to tailor appropriate audit procedures, reviewing internal control processes, and preparing compliance reports. Phuong holds a Bachelor of Accountancy from Nanyang Technological University. Read less