Berkeley Asia Business Conference 2011

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Finance Panel
Private Equity and Venture Capital: Financing Asia's Growth

Fueled by Asia's appetite for 360 degree growth, the Venture Capital and Private Equity vehicle is moving at a pace never experienced before in the Asian geographies. The current influx of VC/PE activity in Asia is not only gaining prominence but also taking large strides in financing change and shaping economic growth in Asia. With several profitable exits by PE firms and record-levels of PE backed IPOs, it seems that the PE/VC vehicles are anticipating sustainable growth in the Asian region and are planning to heavily invest in the Asian geographies. Due to rapidly expanding domestic markets, especially in India and China, the local VC vehicle has begun to focus on local and regional needs, fueled by funds from global partners. Moreover, increasing number of cross-border M&A deals, along with several key strategic acquisitions by Asian corporations, have clearly indicated the faith, power and the payment ability of the Asian capital markets.

The Finance Panel will converge to address specific questions that surround around the sustainability and impact of the PE/VC industry in the Asian region. Some of the key questions are:

How does the landscape with respect to PE & VC look like - the past, the present and the forecast.
Which sectors/industries are going to see growth/upward movement as a result of increasing PE/VC activity in Asia? (who will be the leaders and who will be the laggards)
What role does governance play in the PV/VC activity? How can Asian governments increase participation of the PE/VC entities in value creation and economic growth?
Are there any regulatory/non-regulatory loopholes, which if plugged in the future, that can be detrimental to the sustainability of current PE/VC investments in Asia? Examples?
Why most of the Asian private equity funding has been through smaller growth capital injections unlike large buy-outs as in US or Europe? Will this trend change? Is this shift good or bad? What are the challenges that lie ahead in this shift?

See video of the Finance Panel.

Panelists

Hanson Li, Managing Director, The Hina Group

Mr. Hanson Li is currently Managing Director at The Hina Group, one of the largest merchant banks focusing on China. With offices in China, US, and Singapore, Hina has been variously recognized as the Best Boutique M&A Bank, Best Private Equity Firm, and Best Cross-border Investment Bank in China.

Prior to joining The Hina Group, Mr. Hanson Li gained significant operational experience at Capital One Financial, EqualFooting, and managing his own businesses. At Capital One, a Fortune 500 financial services company, he held management roles at AmericaOne, the company's telecom subsidiary. At EqualFooting, a B2B/software start-up focused on small businesses, he held dual Vice President roles managing both operations and strategy. Mr. Li also founded several businesses, including a coffeehouse/bar in Austin, Texas and a consulting practice that advised small businesses. Complimenting this operational background, Mr. Li was an associate at Mercer Management Consulting, advising on M&A for technology companies. He also worked at Cagan McAfee Capital Partners, a private equity firm focusing on technology and growth companies. Mr. Li earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He was named one of five Siebel Scholars and graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar. He also holds a MA and BA degree from Stanford University

Koji Asada, General Manager & Global Head of M&A Finance, Structured Finance Division, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd.

Koji Asada is a General Manager responsible for arrangement and structuring of acquisition finance, including leveraged buyouts, MBOs, M&A event lending, etc. He joined the Bank in 1987, and he is currently based in Tokyo.

Prior to his current position, he was involved in the process of launching Bank's strategic alliance with Morgan Stanley. He also headed the Steel Sector Coverage Team from 2006 to 2008, and was a Global RM Officer covering Mitsubishi Corporation Group from 1999 to 2003. His career in M&A goes back to 1994, when he experienced M&A advisory business in London. He also spent over 3 years (from 2003 to 2006) at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, the Bank's investment banking arm, as a Global Head of Cross-border M&A.

Koji holds a BA degree in Economics from Keio University, Tokyo. He is a Haas School alumni (Class of 1994), and has an MBA from University of California at Berkeley.

Asish Ramchandran, Partner, Deloitte

Asish is a leader within Deloitte's M&A practice with extensive transformation, integration, divestiture, carve-out, restructuring, and technology management leadership experience. His experience includes significant work in the large-scale programs in multiple geographies focused on portfolio planning, execution management, process re-engineering and multiples realization.

He has led >30 large-scale initiatives within the M&A area. He has provided senior advisory services in India, Singapore, China, Malaysia, NA and EMEA driving target identification, Screening, due diligence followed by transaction planning and execution of >$2 billion in synergy and portfolio realignment of over 1000 functions at clients ranging from $150 million to over $60 billion

He has written several articles on various M&A topics including "A CIO's Look in the Rearview Mirror" and "A House Begins With A Blueprint"

Asish has presented, led discussions and participated at multiple panels at large cross industry forum.

Teresa Kong, Portfolio Manager, Matthews International Capital Management, LLC

Teresa Kong is a Portfolio Manager at Matthews International Capital Management, LLC. Prior to joining Matthews in 2010, she was Head of Emerging Markets at Barclays Global Investors, now known as BlackRock, and responsible for managing the firm's investment strategies in Emerging Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America. She developed and managed strategies spanning passive exchange-traded funds, active long-only and active long-short. In addition to founding the Emerging Markets Group at BlackRock, she was also Senior Portfolio Manager and Credit Strategist on the Fixed Income credit team. Previously, Teresa was a Senior Securities Analyst in the High Yield Group with Oppenheimer Funds, and began her career with JP Morgan Securities Inc., where she worked in the Structured Products Group and Latin America Capital Markets Group. She received both a B.A. in Economics and Political Science and an M.A. in International Development Policies from Stanford University. She speaks Cantonese fluently and is conversational in Mandarin.

Moderator

Michael Zielenziger, Journalist, Monitor Group & Visiting Scholar UC Berkeley

Michael Zielenziger, a Pulitzer-prize finalist for his reporting from China, works with Monitor Group analyzing issues related to Asia and globalization and is a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2010 he researched and co-authored a Monitor report, "China, the Life Science Innovator of 2020." The former Tokyo bureau chief for Knight Ridder Newspapers, Zielenziger is the author of Shutting out the Sun: How Japan Created its own Lost Generation (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday) which described the social malaise and economic decline that now confronts an aging Japan. As a consultant, he advises corporations and governments on developing strategic priorities and discerning emergent trends. He is also a former John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.

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