Member Updates

: PBEC Corporate Member King & Wood Mallesons advise on Australian Bank deal

King & Wood Mallesons advised the Bank of Queensland (BOQ) in its A$1.325 billion (US$1.05 billion) acquisition of digital rival ME bank and the capital raising needed to fund the deal, while Australian firm Arnold Bloch Leibler advised the smaller bank. Read more: https://www.law.com/international-edition/2021/02/25/king-wood-mallesons-and-arnold-bloch-leibler-advise-on-australian-bank-deal/?slreturn=20210209103546 In other News –Appointment Amanda Lees 4th partner in Singapore added in the past 18 months specializes in cross border dispute resolution and arbitration https://www.law.com/international-edition/2021/03/02/king-wood-mallesons-adds-another-partner-in-singapore-fourth-in-18-months/

: PBEC Corporate Member Guotai Junan ends 2 year dollar bond absence and raises USD400M

Guotai Junan International Holdings broke a two-year absence from the dollar bond market this week to raise $400m. The Chinese securities brokerage last sold a dollar deal in March 2019. The $500m 3.875% trade is set to mature next year. This week’s Reg S trade was led by 16 banks. ABC International, CCB International, China Minsheng Bank Hong Kong branch, Guotai Junan International, HSBC… Read more: https://www.globalcapital.com/article/b1qq79mbyfhqt8/guotai-junan-ends-two-year-bond-hiatus

: PBEC Corporate Member Lippo Group Subsidiary OUE Lippo Healthcare Singapore announces strategic recapitalization plan

Lippo Group’s OUE Lippo Healthcare, or OUELH, the healthcare subsidiary of Singapore-listed property developer and owner OUE Limited, has announced a plan to convert existing shareholder loans and interests worth $144 million into perpetual securities in a strategic move to strengthen its capital structure, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Under the plan, OUE Lippo Healthcare will convert shareholder loans and accrued interests of 189.6 million Singapore dollars ($144 million) to 4.0-percent convertible perpetual bonds. The bonds will be convertible into ordinary…

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: PBEC Corporate Member VinaCapital CEO Andy Ho talks to Richard Hunter on Soundcloud about its VinaCapital Vietnam Opportunity Fund latest investments and access to the Vietnam market technology sector.

The fund is listed on the LSE. Richard has over 30 years of stockmarket experience and is one of the UK’s foremost commentators on market matters and a regular contributor for the BBC (BBC News Channel, Wake Up to Money and the Today Programme), CNBC and Bloomberg. Richard’s expert commentary also appears across the national and specialist press. He previously held senior positions at Hargreaves Lansdown and NatWest Stockbrokers. Listen to the interview here: https://www.ii.co.uk/analysis-commentary/andy-ho-richard-hunter-interview-ii515031  

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: The Irish Passport is ranked the 2nd best passport in the world by entrepreneurs in latest survey, thats up 4 places from PBEC Corporate Member Henley and Partners 2020 Passport Annual Report

If you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you’d best grab an Irish passport. A new study has ranked the Irish passport as the second best one in the world for business men and women. It shares the honours with Sweden while Luxembourg takes top spot. The study is based on a ranking of 199 regions and considers factors such as visa-free travel, international taxation laws, global perception, dual citizenship, and personal freedom. “Ireland offers one of Europe’s lowest corporate tax…

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: PBEC Congratulates Corporate Member Shun Tak Holding in winning multiple categories at the BDO ESG Awards 2021

BitMEX Plans to Add Crypto Spot Trading, Custody Services The expansion plans came under the new leadership of Alexander Höptner. Crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX is considering to expand its offerings by adding spot trading, brokerage and custody as its three new services, 100x CEO Alexander Höptner revealed in a recent interview with Bloomberg. “We have to very fast make up our mind how we want to approach these aspects and then see whether we could find a partner or whether we build something…

: PBEC Patron Member 100X Group subsidiary Bitmex appoints PWC Partner Stephan Lutz as their new CFO

100x, the owner of the BitMEX cryptocurrency trading platform, has hired auditing veteran Stephan Lutz as its new chief financial officer. According to an announcement Thursday, Lutz will join the group in May to take charge of financial growth, business expansion and profitability. The new hire brings to the firm nearly a decade of experience as partner at auditing and consultancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), as well as time advising financial corporations at PwC Europe and PWC Germany before that. “[Lutz]…

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: PBEC Feature Member of the Month

Laurie Chow – Chief Executive Officer Laurie is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vega Global. He humbly started his career in 1980 as a sales executive selling projectors to different schools in Hong Kong. With his ambition and hard work, he founded Vega Technology Ltd. in 1986, which began as a local distributor of audio-visual equipment. Over the years, Vega rapidly grew as a critical distribution agency for international AV and IT manufacturers. In 2010, Laurie started to…

: To mark Women in History Month 2021 PBEC interviewed some of its most Influential business women members.

We sat down with aviation boss & PBEC Board of Director Diana Chou again after a year like no other. As the daughter of the Hong Kong tycoon who founded Dragonair, Chou had a strong connection with aviation when she started selling aircraft. Entering her third decade in aviation, she has been busy attracting investment despite Covid-19 into ‘disruptive’ & ‘sustainable’ related businesses amid growing demand for advanced air mobility, shared air transport & exploring innovative ideas to meet the…

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: Our newest Entrepreneur Member Dr. Parag Agarwal of JanaJal joins PBEC

  Asia’s premier Tech enables water services Company headquartered in India has joined PBEC. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Parag Agarwal who is currently based out of Dubai due to the Covid pandemic. Dr. Parag is a major advocate in Asia on Sustainable Entrepreneurship, focused on innovation and transformation in delivering clean water across the industry in Asia. JanaJal is bringing in a water revolution with their triple AAA concept, Accessibility, Affordability and Availability of safe drinking water. They…