Panels

Venture Capital - Fueling Growth: Contrasting Investment Strategies Across Asia

US venture capital firms are expanding their businesses in Asian countries, seeking investment opportunities as well as business development opportunities for their US portfolio companies. In fact, many venture capitalists are seeking different ways to diversify their investment strategies.  They are looking into countries such as China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan where there are an increasing number of companies with innovative business models and developing new technologies which can potentially be expanded to the global market. From high-tech to green energy, venture capitalists are exploring different fields and one may ask, "Is Asia the new breeding ground for a a new wave of venture capital growth?" Join us in exploring the opportunities and potential of venture capital in Asia.

Speakers: Doug Alexander, Brian Kang, Toshi Otani, Dave Takeuchi
Moderator: Chris P. Lee

Sovereign Wealth Fund - Reinventing the Rules

As the financial markets continue to tumble across the world and capital becomes increasingly scarce, institutional giants and MNCs have turned to alternative investment funds for aid. Flushed with cash from wealthy Asian countries, sovereign wealth funds have been involved with recent high profile investments across international borders, raising alarms on global capitalism as well as underlying political motivations.

Nevertheless, sovereign wealth funds have become vital investors to weakening economies and will play increasingly important roles in today’s challenging financial landscape. Join us in understanding the impact of sovereign wealth funds and how their roles have permanently evolved in these uncertain times.

Speakers:Michael Dee

Private Equity - How to Deal with Challenge of Making Investment Across Asia

With relatively strong economic growth across the region, development of more mature capital markets, and a growing acceptance of private equity as an asset class, investing in Asia has become extremely attractive and profitable for many firms in the private equity industry in recent years.  With the subprime crisis in the US, more and more financial sponsors are seeking to ramp up their activity in Asia.  As these firms enter into the Asian private equity market, there are challenges to overcome.  PE firms are learning to adjust to different levels of transparency standards of Asian firms, minority investment strategy, role of government and regulation, and exit through developing capital market.  This panel aims to look at the trends, challenges and strategies private equity firms will need to take on in order to succeed in the Asian market.

Speakers: Mark Johnson, Hussein Khalifa , Gordon Shaw
Moderator: Stephen M. Sammut

Real Estate - Boom or Bubble - An Asian Puzzle

As the U.S. is potentially experiencing a severe economic recession arising from its subprime crisis, Asia's real estate market has seemed to be less affected. For years, many Asian countries have experienced a significant property market boom with many international investors and developers looking into Asia to find attractive returns. However, many investors doubt whether Asia's property market is sustainable given a slowing global economy. Will the current property crisis in U.S. and previous property bubble in other Asian countries be repeated again? This panel aims to explore where the current risks are and how to prevent a severe property market crisis in Asia.

Speakers:Donald L.("Skip")Conover, Pietro A. Doran, Leanne Tobias
Moderator: Grace Wong

Investment Management - The Dynamics in Asia : The Potential of Investment Market

Many modern Asian nations today are heading towards an aging society where a near-term substitutional solution for conventional social welfare system will be urgently sought. As citizens of these maturing economies grow more sophisticated, mutual funds are expected to play a key role in developing Asia's investment market over the next few decades. As the financial turmoil continues to sweep across the East and now threatens to slow down the booming Asian investment market, the fundamentals of global investing and the roles of Asian investors have permanently evolved. Along with this interesting backdrop, the panel will aim to dissect the future of the Asian investment market given the polar economic climates across the region such as Japan and China.

Speakers: Atsuto Sawakami, George W. Stairs, Dr. Franklin Yang
Moderator: Alex Edmans

Investment Banking - Turbo-Charged for Growth: Investment Opportunities as Asia Enters the Global Frontier

M&A in Asia has turned a corner in recent years by becoming a key component of corporate strategy.   Industry consolidations and cross-border deals have also increased at a fast pace. The booming Asian economies have developed companies with global aspirations, driving regional M&A activity to an unprecedented level. To maintain competitiveness, top business leaders need to tackle increasingly complicated issues from changing regulatory policies to integrating cultural differences. This panel aims to explore Asia's M&A opportunities, assess the impact of the sub-prime crisis on the deal landscape, and identify major challenges facing corporate decision makers in Asia.

Speakers: Nobuhiko Masuto, Mark Renton, Pakpoom Vallisuta
Moderator: Rahul Kapoor