2025 Sohn San Francisco: Asia Alternatives & BlackRock’s Systemic Active Equities On The Unique Opportunities In Asia

Melissa J. Ma, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Asia Alternatives Capital Partners, and Jeff Shen, PhD, Co-Chief Investment Officer and Co-Head of Systematic Active Equities at BlackRock, presented their specialized views on investment in Chinese markets at the 2025 Sohn San Francisco Conference during the “Investing in China: Challenge and Opportunity” panel.

The thesis (of both) is based on the structural momentum underpinning Asia, driven by demographics, technology, and consumption, creating powerful long term investment themes that currently face significant price dislocation due to short term geopolitical friction and sentiment. This scenario offers opportunities for harvesting alpha in both public and private markets.

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• 13D Monitor Active-Passive Investor Summit
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The Global Context and Asia’s Structural Tailwinds

Ms. Ma, whose firm Asia Alternatives operates as the largest female owned private equity fund globally with $15 billion in assets under management (AUM), established the fundamental case for Asia’s enduring growth.

Prior to launching Asia Alternatives, Ms. Ma was a Director at H&F, a San Francisco-based private equity firm. She was involved with sourcing and monitoring H&F’s investments in financial and professional services. Before H&F, Ms. Ma worked at McKinsey & Co., Inc. for 15 years in the Hong Kong and San Francisco offices.

Jeff Shen, PhD is a Managing Director, Co-Chief Investment Officer and Co-Head of Systematic Active Equities within BlackRock’s Systematic investment team. He is a member of the BlackRock Global Operating Committee and BlackRock Systematic Management Committee. Shen started working at Barclays Global Investors (BGI) in 2004, which merged with BlackRock in 2009. At BGI, he was the Head of Investment for Asia Pacific and Emerging Market active equities.  Prior to BGI, he worked at JP Morgan.

China dominates headlines, but the investment theme is actually the broader “rise of Asia,” a shift that has occurred over the last two decades. Today, Asia represents approximately 50% of global growth and is projected to maintain this share over the next ten years. This growth is anchored by three primary drivers: demographics, technology, and supply chain dominance.