Frank Tang ’94 of Temasek Holdings — one of the largest overseas investors in China — returned to the School on May 10 as the fourth speaker in the Sir Gordon Wu Distinguished Speaker Forum.
Tang is a senior managing director at Temasek who is responsible for the firm’s China investment effort. He advised foreign investors to develop an understanding of Chinese markets, find domestic partners for transactions and adopt a long-term approach to investing in China. Tang stressed that while recent macroeconomic developments and financial market reforms will fuel much of China’s growth over the next decade, numerous governmental and regulatory transformations are still under way.
“This is an important series, as China has become an undeniable force in business, reshaping the global economy and emerging as the main engine for world financial growth in coming decades,” said Dean Glenn Hubbard, who introduced Tang to more than 175 students, faculty members and alumni at the Columbia Club in midtown.
Headquartered in Singapore, Temasek Holdings has already invested more than $5.1 billion in Chinese companies spanning financial institutions, retail, consumer products, real estate, transportation and alternative energy organizations. In 2005, Temasek was one of the first companies to invest in restructurings of Chinese banks. Its current holdings include Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Minsheng Bank.
The Wu series is just one of the School’s many connections with Asia. Beginning this fall, for example, at least 10 MBA students from Hong Kong University will study at the School during the spring and summer semesters. In October the Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing will hold its 16th annual Graham and Dodd Breakfast in Hong Kong. The School will hold its first Pan-Asian Reunion in Hong Kong in October 2008.
Organized by the School’s Jerome A. Chazen Institute of International Business, the Sir Gordon Wu Distinguished Speaker Forum informs and engages Columbia Business School faculty members, students and alumni through active dialogue about China and its prospects in the 21st century. The forum was established through a generous gift from Sir Gordon Wu, founder of Hopewell Holdings and a major force in Asian infrastructure today.
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