On September 26th, Kyungsun Chung, the Managing Partner of The Sylvan Group, had interview with CNBC on Forbes Global CEO Conference.

Kyungsun talked about his thoughts on the meaning of sustainability in business and investment:

Announcer: A, KS: K

A:

What kinds of conversations are you having right now about where investors should be putting their money on?

K:

At this conference, people should talk about sustainability. Human civilization has lived through the gilded age where we believed unlimited and unconditional growth was possible. But I think we are waking up to the harsh reality that it is basically not possible anymore, and there was a hidden cost to it. The year 2022 was a really big hint for people who are still skeptical about sustainability issues due to the biblical level of heatwaves, floods, and droughts. In Korea, POSCO, one of the largest steelmakers, stopped the operation of its main factory for the first time in 50 years just because of a hurricane. This is really pushing me to think about what it means to be sustainable in business and investment.

A:

Right. But isn't it a tough environment right now? Is it a concern for you given the fact that everything in the private space is going off the cliff?

K:

I think this is an interesting time to see which area is ready to move into the impact transformation we are calling in. A lot of the businesses in the legacy area from energy, food, and retail really need to rethink how to move forward. The current situation, where the economy is undergoing a recession, is potentially a good opportunity for us to really invest in what should be in the next couple of years. I think human civilization is facing a very narrow window of time. If we really want to do something about climate change, pollution, and everything on sustainable issues, we have to do something within the next 20 ~ 30 years.

A:

Right. So, how are you sizing up opportunities right now?

K:

There are a few areas we are looking into. It's very good to see that now there are more and more private equities or venture capitals that are saying that they are in the ESG focus. But I think there are still not many players here. As one of the small numbers of private equity who are focusing on ESG and impact, there are a lot of deals that approach us because they believe that we have a shared vision. I think working closely with LPs is one of our biggest strengths. Some of our LPs have a long history of family control businesses, thinking of transitioning themselves into something more sustainable. We share all information and look into the different industries where they want to move in.

A:

How defensive and/or attractive does healthcare look right now?

K:

Well, I think for healthcare it's an interesting moment to look into. There is definitely a lot of potential in there. People are realizing that, because of the aging populations and everything becoming more expensive, we need an intervention in making healthcare more efficient and affordable. This is why we are investigating from the way how to vertically integrate healthcare services to the new and next-generation drugs that could make everything more effective and efficient. Therefore, I think there is a lot of interesting opportunity there. But, for sure, I think because of the current financial issues, it's going to be a little bit slow to get the new medicine, but we are hopeful.

A:
Thank you very much for joining us for the Forbes Asia Conference.