Mergermarket M&A Forum - Hong Kong
The premier M&A forum in Hong Kong
The Four Seasons Hotel, Hong Kong SAR & Online
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Peter Adams joined Vermilion Partners as Managing Director of the Beijing office in 2011 and has over a decade of investment banking and corporate M&A experience in the U.S. and Asia. Prior to joining Vermilion, he spent six years at Siemens, based in their regional headquarters in Beijing, where he was responsible for mergers and acquisitions across Asia. His team completed transactions in China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand, during which period Siemens China grew its revenue base from Euro4.5bn to Euro6.4bn.
Prior to joining Siemens, Peter was based in New York, where he worked in Merrill Lynch’s financial institutions group, for whom he also served in their Beijing and Tokyo offices. He subsequently joined International Technology Investment Managers (Asia), a technology venture firm, where he managed capital raising for an Asian direct investment fund; and, Enterprise Air, a software group, where he managed capital raising and mergers and acquisitions strategies; both based in New York. Peter holds a B.A. Magna Cum Laude from Yale University in East Asian Studies and speaks fluent Mandarin and some Japanese.
Peter is based in Beijing and has lived there since 2006. He also lived in Beijing in 1985 and 1995, and in Taiwan in 1986-1987 and 1989-1990
Mr Evan Auyang is the Group President of Animoca Brands, a Hong Kong-based multinational blockchain technology and investment company focused on developing the digital property rights ecosystem, including play-to-earn games, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance (DeFi), blockchain marketplaces, infrastructure and more.Mr Auyang is also the Chairman of the Board of Civic Exchange, a non-partisan public policy think tank. He serves as an Independent Non-Executive Director on three boards: the Urban Renewal Authority, Sun Hung Kai & Co. Ltd., and Asia Financial Holdings Limited. He is an Advisor for Our Hong Kong Foundation, and serves on the Innovation and Technology Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, the Transport Policy Committee of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, the Development Fund Committee of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, the Advisory Council for Institute at Brown for Environment and Society for Brown University, as well as the Board of Advisors of Hong Kong 2050 is Now. In addition, Mr. Auyang is a lecturer at the Hong Kong Academy of Politics and Public Policy.Prior to joining Animoca Brands, Mr Auyang was the Managing Director and Head of GLG International (Gerson Lehrman Group), a technology-enabled expert insight platform where he ran and grew its business spanning Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific across 15 locations. Before GLG, Mr Auyang was the Deputy Managing Director of the Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (1933) Ltd. (“KMB”) and a board director of Transport International Holdings Limited, the parent company of KMB. Prior to joining Transport International and KMB, Mr Auyang was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company. Before that, Mr Auyang worked at Citigroup’s Derivatives Structuring and Marketing unit.He obtained his undergraduate degree in Economics and Political Science from Brown University and his MBA degree from the Kellogg School of Management
Alex is currently VP Strategy & Development, Asia Pacific for Amcor, a $15 billion ASX-listed global leading supplier of flexible and rigid plastic packaging to well-known FMCG and Pharma brands. Before seconded to the current management role, he was Vice President, Head of Asia M&A when he completed nine acquisitions and led numerous others in Emerging Asia and Middle East/Africa for Amcor.
He has over 15 years of experience in leading M&A transactions and managing acquired businesses in Asia as corporate & financial owner and as advisor. He launched the ex-Japan Asia private equity investment business of leading Japanese buyout fund Advantage Partners and closed several investments that generated attractive capital gain for the fund. While at Coca-Cola and McKinsey Asia Corporate Finance Group, he led transactions of various sizes across Asia. He also advised private equity funds and corporations in Europe and Asia on investment and post-merger restructuring during his tenure at Bain & Company.
Vivek Chhabra is a Chartered Accountant with more than 30 years experience in FMCG.
From 1985, Mr. Chhabra spent 10 years with RJR Nabisco's food business in India and in Singapore.
From 1995, for almost 20 years Mr. Chhabra was with Heineken's Asia Pacific Joint venture, initially as Country Finance Manager in Papua New Guinea and in Vietnam and then as Finance Director for Asia Pacific.
From 2004 to 2014, Mr. Chhabra was Director Regional Business Development when he spearheaded the group's entry into several emerging and frontier markets across Asia Pacific via greenfield production, M&A, joint venture, etc. In all, Mr. Chhabra completed more than 20 transactions valued at USD 1.25 billion. From 2007, Mr. Chhabra was also the Regional Director for South Asia overseeing the 3 plants in South Asia.
Mr. Chhabra joined Thai Beverages/Fraser & Neave in 2015 and has worked as CEO of the soft drinks business in Thailand before returning to Singapore in March 2017 to head the M&A function for the region.
Mr. Chhabra has received awards from governmental bodies in Vietnam and India and has also been a member of World Bank/IFC Private Sector Reform program in Vietnam, the Industry and Finance sub-committee of the GPC in Singapore and was the Vice Chairman of the South Asia Business Group in the Singapore Business Federation.
A global strategic leader in public companies, currently President at Reliance Jio and part of the central management of India’s largest consumer conglomerate in telecom and retail, also leading its foray into payments, digital advertising and e-commerce.
Previously MD India of Aimia Inc., the world’s largest data-driven marketing company. He has built and sold businesses in marketing, Nectar and analytics, Fractal, and has also been a successful entrepreneur in luxury retail, investment banking, IT and security. He is one of India’s earliest venture capitalists, with an active family office portfolio, including 2 unicorns, InMobi and Myntra.
An Alumnus of University of Pittsburgh and Harvard Business School. Also Co-President, Harvard Club of Mumbai and a national award-winning photographer.
Marco is currently the Group Head of Legal at CLSA and is also an executive director of a Hong Kong listed company, CLSA Premium Limited (HKEx Stock Code: 6877). Before joining CLSA, Marco spent approximately 10 years at Morgan Stanley Asia, holding various senior positions including, the Regional COO role of the Private Funds business and the Regional Head of Legal role for both Private Funds and IBD M&A. He was awarded M&A individual of the Year in 2019 by the Association of Corporate Counsel. He was a corporate attorney at Slaughter and May (London and Hong Kong) for more than 7 years prior to that.
Ms Shengyan Fan joined China Everbright Limited in 2009 and is a Managing Director of the Merger & Acquisition Department. She also serves as a Managing Partner of the CEL Catalyst China Israel Fund and a member of the investment committee of the CEL Global Investment Fund and the CEL Catalyst China Israel Fund.
Ms. Fan has 20 years’ experience in direct investment, capital raising and investment banking businesses. Prior to joining CEL, Ms. Fan has held various positions with increasing responsibility at multinational investment banks.
Ms. Fan holds a BA and a BS from Tsinghua University and an MA from the University of Oxford.
Min Fang is based in Shanghai, joined Warburg Pincus in 2007 and focuses on investments in the healthcare sector in Asia. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, he worked at the Boston Consulting Group focusing on management consulting for pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Mr. Fang is a director of HTDK (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Evercare (Beijing) Holding Group Co. Ltd., Haihe Biopharma Co., Ltd., Jiangxi Zhenshiming Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Insilico Medicine Cayman TopCo and Jinxin Fertility Group (1951.HK).
He received a B.A. of International Finance from Fudan University and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Raymond was the General Counsel, International, of China Tourism Group Corporation Limited with oversight of the legal and compliance, enterprise risk management, corporate governance and regulatory affairs of the Group’s international operations, principal investments and strategic initiatives around the world.
He has received various industry awards over the years, and was recognized as one of the most influential corporate counsels in the Legal 500 GC Powerlist for China and Hong Kong in 2017.
Prior to joining CTG, he spent more than 18 years in various senior management, corporate development and enterprise risk management roles with multinational diversified conglomerates, a leading investment bank, and in private practice with Magic Circle and Wall Street law firms where he focused on capital markets transactions, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, technology and telecommunications, strategic initiatives, and principal investments across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Raymond is a graduate of Columbia Law School, New York and The Wharton School’s Advanced Management Program for Senior Executives.
At Openspace Ventures, Jessica leads OSV+, Openspace Ventures' mid-stage growth fund, and is a Director on the Investments team.
She has over 14 years of growth- and late-stage investment and corporate strategy experience across Asia Pacific. Her previous roles include leading the investment team in Southeast Asia for Providence Equity Partners – a global telecommunications, media and technology sector focused private equity fund. More recently, she headed Corporate Strategy & Business Development, APAC, for The Walt Disney Company, where she helmed key strategic initiatives and M&A across the region. Earlier in her career, Jessica worked in the Healthcare Investment Banking and Asia Debt Capital Markets teams at Citigroup.
Jessica holds a BA in Political Science from Barnard College, Columbia University.
Frank Jin is a Managing Director within Morgan Stanley’s Mergers & Acquisitions Department based in Hong Kong. He is currently the M&A Operations Officer for Asia Pacific.
Frank has over 13 years of experience practicing M&A. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Frank worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Standard Chartered and the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell focusing on M&A transactions and leveraged finance in New York and Hong Kong. Frank is dual qualified as a New York lawyer and Hong Kong solicitor.
Frank received a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, in Biology and Commerce, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Frank’s M&A practice focuses on China-related transactions as well as those involving listed companies in Hong Kong and other venues.
A Swedish national, Anette has lived in Hong Kong for the past 23 years, covering corporate news, ECM and M&A. She is currently editor of Dealreporter Asia-Pacific, which focuses on event-driven and special situations, and have previously worked with FinanceAsia (where she covered ECM primarily for the website), South China Morning Post and Dow Jones Newswires.
In her current role at Dealreporter, she reports and edits stories on Risk Arb, Specials and Trends with a particular focus on Greater China, Australia, Japan and Southeast Asia, as well as outbound M&A into Europe and the US. As a team, Dealreporter also covers international deals that need approval from Asian regulators.
Karen Lai is a Managing Director of LionRock Capital, a seasoned Asian private equity firm with an investment focus on consumer and sports sectors. She oversees the investments, investor relations and fund operations functions of LionRock Capital. She has over 16 years’ experience in private equity and investment banking.
Prior to joining LionRock Capital, she was an Investment Executive at Candover, a European private equity fund, where she focused on mid-market growth companies in the Greater China region. Prior to that, she worked at Credit Suisse focusing on fixed income structuring, as well as at Bank of America Merrill Lynch focusing on corporate finance and corporate risk management.
Ms. Lai received a Bachelor of Science in Economics (summa cum laude and member of Beta Alpha Psi) from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She is qualified as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).
Dr. Lanyi is a senior Private Equity professional with 19 years of experience. Based in Singapore, he currently serves as a Managing Director at CDH Investments, where he co-leads CDH's Southeast Asian and global 'Cross-border' investment activities.
Established in 2001, CDH is one of the most well-established alternative assets fund management companies in China, managing close to US$20billion in client assets across different strategies and funds. The firm specializes in investment opportunities in the consumer and healthcare sectors.
Prior to joining CDH, Dr. Lanyi held senior roles at Mekong Capital and Templeton Private Equity. Dr. Lanyi lived in Vietnam between 2007-2012 and continues to manage CDH's office in HCMC.
Dr. Lanyi is the Chairman of the Singapore Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (SVCA).
Samson Lo joined UBS in 2010 and is primarily responsible for M&A origination and execution in the Asia Pacific region across many industry sectors. From 2007-2010, Mr. Lo was a member of Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific's investment banking team for Hong Kong-based corporations. From 2000-2007, Mr. Lo was a member of Lehman Brothers' M&A group in New York City and led executions for transactions across many industry sectors.
Mr. Lo graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania's Management & Technology Program, with joint undergraduate degrees from Wharton School and School of Engineering & Applied Sciences.
Stephen is the CFO of Prenetics. Prior to joining Prenetics in 2018, Stephen was with Citigroup's investment banking franchise in Asia. Before investment banking, he was an auditor with Ernst & Young. He is a Fellow of HKICPA, a Chartered Accountant with ICAEW, and a CFA Charterholder. He graduated from the Yale School of Management, the London School of Economics and Political Science and Hong Kong Baptist University.
Raghu Narain brings over 20 years of experience in investment banking, corporate finance and economic policy advisory. Currently, Mr. Narain is Head of Investment Banking for Natixis, APAC with the responsibility to deliver M&A, Acquisition Financing, Strategic Equity, and DCM solutions. Prior to Natixis, Mr. Narain was the Head of Sector Advisory and Global Industrials Group in RBS Asia. In his career, he has undertaken over 100 transactions by financing and advising US$100+ billion in completed deals for global companies. He has advised major global entities including Eurazeo, Sanyuan, Tsinghua, Continental Airlines, Fosun, GVK, Lafarge, MISC, MGM, Reliance, Shanghai Electric, Vedanta and UPS. Prior to working in Asia, he was at Bank of America in New York where he was a Director responsible for M&A and capital raising activities for the Global Transportation and Logistics Group. Mr. Narain began his investment banking career with Salomon Smith Barney / Citigroup in New York.
Mr. Narain has also worked at Bridgewater Associates as an Investment Associate and in the field of development finance at the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID). He completed his Masters degree from Harvard University. He holds MPA, MBA and BA degrees from the United States. He is a member of the International Honor Society of Beta Gamma Sigma. He has often been highlighted in leading industry media CNBC Squawk Box, Institutional Investors, The Asset, IFR, Marine Money, Drillers and Dealers Digest and The Daily Deal for his achievements in the field of financial services.
Gaurav Nayak focuses on delivering Datasite’s M&A technology solutions and services to private equity clients in APAC. Prior to Datasite, he worked at AVCJ, part of the Mergermarket Group, where he helped set up the commercial operations of their nascent AVCJ Research Database. Before that, Gaurav was the Commercial Manager for APAC at Financial Times. After graduating from UCL with a Masters in Biochemical Engineering, Gaurav decided to complement his sound theoretical engineering knowledge with sales skills and exposure to the events industry. Working at both CLI and Mines and Money gave him a great understanding of the sales process as well as conference production and event management.
Steve Okun has served as GPCA’s Southeast Asia Senior Advisor since 2017. Steve is Founder and CEO of Singapore-based APAC Advisors and is a seasoned private equity professional. Steve supports member relations and expanding GPCA’s industry stakeholder network in the region. He is also responsible for establishing GPCA’s Singapore and regional presence as well as training the local team. As KKR’s former Director of Asia Public Affairs, Steve also advises GPCA on public affairs and industry advocacy in Southeast Asia.
Hong Qiu is Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Lazard Greater China. Ms. Qiu has over 20 years of experience in investment banking and private equity investment in Asia.
Ms. Qiu has advised on numerous cross-border M&A transactions involving Chinese companies, particularly in the power, energy and infrastructure sector. She is well-versed in China’s outbound M&A regulatory landscape, having close relationships with central and provincial SOEs and financing banks. She also represents international companies in their acquisition, strategic cooperation and divestment vis-à-vis Chinese parties.
Prior to joining Lazard, Ms. Qiu was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley. Prior to that she worked at Citi as a Director. She also served as Senior Investment Officer at EMP Global managing the AIG Asian Infrastructure Fund.
Ms. Qiu is a CFA Charter holder, a member of Thunderbird Finance Advisory Committee. Ms. Qiu received a Master of Business Administration degree with Honors from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management.
Anthony Riha oversees Issuer Partnership Strategies for Asia-Pacific. This includes specializing in solving for AGM/EGM complexities and maximizing shareholder voting outcomes, as well as Sustainability from the viewpoint of Institutional Shareholders. In the five years prior to joining Alliance Advisors, Anthony was Vice President APAC Sales for ISS Corporate Solutions, building out Emerging Markets businesses and introducing ESG products.
Career experiences also include serving as Senior Director and Head of the Technology Solutions at RR Donnelly Investment Management Services. Anthony began his professional career as a News Writer for ABC and NBC News affiliates in the United States, attaining the title of Producer/Senior Writer. He is also highly active in various community organizations in Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea.
Erika Rodriguez (Hong Kong) joined KKR in 2021 to help implement the Firm’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) work across its investment portfolio, particularly for KKR’s portfolio’s in APAC. Prior to joining KKR, she was the Group ESG Director at FWD Group, a Pan-Asian insurance company based in Hong Kong, where she led development of their ESG programs. Erika has a diverse set of ESG and sustainability-focused experience, including at ERM, Patagonia Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., PVH Corp., and Eileen Fisher Inc. Erika also brings strong exposure to relevant NGOs and standard setting bodies such as Carbonfund.org, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the US Green Building Council. Erika holds a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy (MPA ESP) from Columbia University. Born and raised in the Philippines, Erika has lived and worked for multinational companies headquartered in Washington, D.C., New York, California, London, Manila, Tokyo, and Hong Kong
Currently editorial consultant to Dealreporter and director of Mergermarket Australia, Simon Segal established the Australian bureau of Mergermarket in 2005 where he was bureau chief and Asian editor of Dealreporter (2006-2009).
He has a PhD in the relationship between stakeholders and M&A which has been converted into a book Reframing Mergers and Acquisitions around Stakeholder Relationships: Economic, Political and Social Processes (Routledge Advances in Management and Business Studies). He has co-hosted the weekly Dealbook on the former Sky Business channel and has contributed M&A commentary to numerous Australian publications.
Simon has some 30 years experience in researching, editing, writing and commenting on financial issues, specialising in M&A since 2005.
Mr. Alexander Shaik is an Equity Partner and General Counsel of ADM Capital. He has 20 years legal and commercial experience working on corporate and structured finance transactions. Mr. Shaik has been involved in over 150 innovative private credit and equity transactions in most of the key Emerging Markets across Asia and Eastern Europe, including Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Croatia, Japan, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Australia and New Zealand. Before joining ADM Capital in 2005, Alexander Shaik was employed in the Hong Kong office of the US law firm, Sidley Austin, and he has also worked with the Tokyo office of UK magic circle firm, Allen & Overy. Mr Shaik’s role involves supervising legal, structuring, execution and regulatory issues arising in respect of the ADM Capital Group’s private credit investments in the Asia-Pacific region.
Raj is currently the Head of M&A at Circles Life’s telco software business scouting for investments and acquisitions across the globe. Circles Life is backed by marquee investors like Sequoia, Warburg Pincus, and Cisco. Circles’ telco operating software enables running a fully digital Telco at an exceptionally low cost. Prior to Circles, Raj spent many years as an investment professional in Growth Private Equity – Investing in technology, education, financial services, and consumer businesses in the US and Asia. Raj served as a board member in portfolio companies of private equity funds he was part of – Kaizenvest, Guggenheim Capital, and Helix Investments.
At Generali Asia, John Spence is responsible for formulating and executing mergers and acquisitions, fostering strategic alliances and partnerships and leading regional corporate development initiatives to achieve Generali’s growth targets in Asia.
Prior to joining Generali, Mr. Spence provided independent strategic advisory services for Asian cross border insurance and asset management transactions at Asian Capital Advisors and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW). At Macquarie Funds Group, he also had responsibility for Asian acquisitions and led a Korean asset management joint venture. At Manulife Financial, his region-wide responsibilities included mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships and wealth management. In Australia, Mr. Spence held senior executive roles at National Australia Bank and AMP.
Mr. Spence holds a Masters of Business Administration from Australian Graduate School of Management, Bachelor of Economics from Sydney University, is a Chartered Accountant, a Chartered Secretary, Senior Associate of the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance, and a Certified Financial Planner. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Hong Kong Institute of Directors.
Ed heads the Asia based editorial teams for Dealreporter, an M&A news service for merger arbitrage funds, and PaRR, a competition regulatory focused news and database product. He joined Acuris in London in 2007 before moving to Hong Kong in 2014.
PV Wang currently serves as Managing Director of Legend Capital and is responsible for assisting CEO and CIO in charge of investor relation, business development and other related work for the company.
Prior to Legend Capital, Mr Wang was the Co-Chief Investment Officer of Noah Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. and was responsible for its private market investments. Mr Wang was a Partner at Adams Street from 2002 till December 2015. He was involved in formulating the firm’s private equity fund investment strategy for Asia and was a member of its Primary Investment Committee.
Jessica is a reporter for Mergermarket, covering M&A, PE, and fundraising news in Hong Kong and Greater China. Prior to this, she reported on ECM across Asia-Pacific. She joined Acuris in February 2019.
Julie Yoon is managing director and head of the Mintz Group’s Hong Kong office and manages and oversees enhanced due diligence, AML, sanctions and financial regulatory compliance investigations across Asia for financial institutions and pre-deal M&A integrity due diligence for asset management and private equity firms, as well as litigation/arbitration support for corporations, law firms and creditors, including asset searches, and political risk assessments. Julie also oversees the firm’s Korea practice and is a CAMS-certified anti-money laundering specialist.
Miranda Zhao joined Natixis in 2019 as Head of Mergers & Acquisitions, Asia Pacific, Corporate & Investment Banking. Miranda is responsible for leading the development of M&A activities for the Asia Pacific platform, working closely with the bank’s in-house teams as well as its network of boutiques in the region and globally.
Miranda has extensive investment banking experience across Asia Pacific and Europe, with a strong focus on cross-border mergers and acquisitions.
Her most recent role prior to joining Natixis was as Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at China Everbright Capital Limited. Prior to that, she works for various global investment banks, including Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and The Royal Bank of Scotland/CIMB.
Xiaolin is a Partner in CE Innovation Capital, An Asian Growth Capital Fund with focus on Fintech, Enterprise Tech and Consumer Platforms.
Before joining CEIC, Xiaolin was a director in JD’s Strategic Investment team, and was responsible for developing and implementing the group strategy of JD via investments and M&A, focusing on investment opportunities in consumer, technology and logistics sectors.
Prior to JD, Xiaolin co-founded and held the title of Head of Business Development at YouJieYouHuan, a China fintech start up company
Xiaolin started her career as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in 2009, and was an associate in Deutsche Bank’s Technology, Media, and Telecommunications team between 2011-2014. She was born and raised in China and received a full scholarship to study in Singapore and the US, graduating with a First-Honor Bachelor Degree (Major in Quantitative Finance) from the National University of Singapore.
Mr. Zhu Ling is the County Lead of Capital Markets in CDP, covering markets of Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China. Before joining CDP, Ling was the Head of Banking and Capital Markets in the Department for International Trade in the British Embassy Beijing, and also worked in China Development Bank. Ling holds a Master’s Degree low carbon economy from Fudan University, where he contributed to several projects in climate transition such as Shanghai Low Carbon Economy Development Route 2050.