How Jean built the fortune
Jean Salata built his wealth as a private equity investor in Asia. In 1997 he founded Baring Private Equity Asia, later known as BPEA, in Hong Kong, initially as part of the Baring private equity network. The timing was difficult, as the Asian financial crisis struck soon afterwards, but it also created opportunities to buy into companies at low valuations. The firm became independent and grew under Salata's leadership into one of the largest private equity managers focused on the region.
BPEA invested across Asia, with particular strength in India, China, Japan and Southeast Asia. It specialised in buying control of mid sized and large companies, improving their operations and selling them to other investors or through stock market listings. Its deals spanned technology services, education, healthcare and consumer businesses. Well known investments included the Indian IT services companies Hexaware and Coforge, formerly NIIT Technologies, and the international schools group Nord Anglia Education, which it took private with a Canadian pension fund in 2017. As successive funds grew larger, the management fees and share of profits earned by the firm, of which Salata was the main owner, increased accordingly.
The largest single step in his fortune came in 2022, when the Swedish investment group EQT bought BPEA. The transaction was paid partly in cash and partly in EQT shares, making Salata one of EQT's largest individual shareholders and tying his wealth to the performance of a listed global asset manager.
Private equity firms of this kind earn money in two ways. They charge investors an annual management fee on committed capital, and they keep a share of the profits, known as carried interest, when investments are sold at a gain. Over two decades of fundraising, BPEA moved from relatively small early funds to flagship funds of several billion dollars, and its record of returning capital to pension funds, endowments and sovereign wealth funds allowed it to raise each new fund larger than the last.
Companies and holdings
Following the sale, BPEA became EQT's Asian private capital business, known as BPEA EQT, and Salata took a senior role in the combined group. His holdings now consist principally of:
- a large stake in EQT AB, the Stockholm listed private markets investor
- personal investments in funds managed by EQT, including the former BPEA funds
- cash proceeds from the sale and other private investments
Salata joined EQT's leadership, heading its Asia business and taking a seat on the board of EQT AB. The value of his position therefore depends on EQT's share price, which reflects investor sentiment toward private markets as well as the firm's fundraising and investment returns.
Early life and career
Salata was born in Chile in December 1965. He later moved to the United Kingdom for university and studied at the London School of Economics, where he earned a degree in economics. His studies in London prepared him for a career that would cross several continents.
He began working in finance in investment roles focused on emerging markets. Before founding BPEA he was part of the team managing the AIG Asian Infrastructure Fund, a vehicle that invested in power, transport and telecommunications projects across Asia. That experience introduced him to the region's business families, regulators and capital markets, and convinced him that a dedicated private equity firm based in Asia could compete with global managers. He has lived in Hong Kong for most of his career.
At BPEA he was known for building a large team of local investment professionals in each country rather than running the region from a single office, an approach that helped the firm source deals directly with founders and family owned companies.
Philanthropy and public life
Salata's best known gift is to Harvard University, where he and his wife Melanie funded the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, launched in 2022 with a donation of 200 million US dollars. The institute supports research on climate change and on practical responses to it, bringing together work across Harvard's schools.
The family has also supported education and environmental causes in Asia and elsewhere through private giving. Salata gives occasional interviews on investing in Asia and the private equity industry, but generally keeps his personal life out of public view.