<article>Grab Financial Group&#8217;s head and senior managing director Reuben Lai has joined the board of Temasek-owned investment firm Heliconia Capital.</article>

Grab Financial Group&#8217;s head and senior managing director Reuben Lai has joined the board of Temasek-owned investment firm Heliconia Capital.
According to a filing submitted to Singapore&#8217;s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), Lai was appointed to Heliconia Capital&#8217;s board of directors on 29 October 2021. He joins eight other directors on Heliconia&#8217;s board – Derek Lau, Lim How Teck, Koh Poh Guan, Sarjit Singh Gill, Lim Chin Hu, Gan Chee Yen, Tan Seok Hoong Audrey and Lee Sooi Cheun Philip.
Lai confirmed his appointment to DealStreetAsia in a statement, adding that Heliconia chief executive Derek Lau sought to tap his experience in the technology sector to complement existing strengths within the team.
DealStreetAsia has contacted Heliconia Capital for comment.
In October last year, Heliconia Capital was announced to be integrated under 65 Equity Partners, a newly-formed S$4.5 billion ($3.3 billion) Singapore government entity aimed at providing capital solutions to family businesses and entrepreneurs.
Temasek-backed investment firms Tower Capital Asia and Novo Tellus Capital Partners have also been grouped under 65 Equity Partners, apart from Heliconia. <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/temasek-new-investment-platform-266938/">The umbrella scheme</a> would see 65 Equity Partners own 100% of Heliconia, 30% of Tower Capital Asia, and 10% of Novo Tellus, <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/temasek-new-umbrella-entity-266036/">confirming an earlier report by DealStreetAsia.</a>
Heliconia Capital was first set up in December 2010, as the Singapore Government&#8217;s fund manager for a scheme called the Co-Investment Programme (CIP). The Temasek subsidiary was mandated through this CIP scheme to provide patient seed capital to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore with the potential to be globally competitive businesses.
Since then, Heliconia Capital has expanded its portfolio to 35 companies amounting to over S$2 billion in assets under management (AUM), according to a Business Times report last September. Some of its portfolio firms include Nanofilm, XM Studios, Secretlab, ONE Championship, ADDX, Jumbo Seafood and Eagle Eye Centre.
Separately, Heliconia&#8217;s board director Lim How Teck has taken a leave of absence from his role at the firm. In February, Lim was notified of his arrest in his capacity as a lead independent director at Raffles Education Corp, along with the company&#8217;s CEO Chew Hua Seng and three other board directors. The five directors were subsequently released on bail and have not been charged for any offence, according to a company statement.
In a filing to the stock exchange, SGX-listed Raffles Education Corp said the arrests were part of ongoing investigations which relate to a claim by Affin Bank Berhad against certain subsidiaries of the company, including Raffles K12 and Raffles Iskandar, which manage schools in Malaysia.
Lim has since been re-designated as an independent director on the board of Raffles Education. According to a Business Times report, Heliconia board member Koh Poh Guan has taken over from Lim as the acting chairman at Heliconia in the interim.
Lai has clarified in a statement to DealStreetAsia that his appointment to Heliconia is not related to Lim&#8217;s leave of absence.

Grab Financial Group senior managing director Reuben Lai has joined the board of Temasek-owned investment firm Heliconia Capital. 

Grab Financial chief Reuben Lai joins Heliconia Capital's board

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Grab Financial chief Reuben Lai joins Heliconia Capital's board

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