BDO Asia Pacific Corporate Finance Conference BDO News - 10 August 2008 The BDO Asia Pacific Corporate Finance Conference was held in Hong Kong on 10-11 July 2008. Over 120 guests and delegates from BDO Member Firms in the Asia Pacific region attended the conference.
“The main purpose of this Conference is to provide an opportunity for us to share experiences and to glimpse what the future holds for us in the capital markets in the Asian region. It provides a forum for us to network and explore and develop business alliances on a regional basis on corporate finance initiatives,” said Albert Au, Managing Director of BDO McCabe Lo, in his welcoming address.

Paul Chow, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx), was the keynote speaker. Paul outlined the key strategic initiatives of the HKEx to achieve supreme market quality in the Hong Kong Securities Market and in the Region. Other speakers included David O’Rear, Chief Economist of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, who gave a presentation on the Outlook for 2008/2009 for Asia Pacific amid the Sub-prime Shake out. Feizal Mustapha, General Manager of the Securities Commission Malaysia, presented on Developments in the Malaysian Capital Market. Richard Winter, Managing Director of Quam Capital (Holdings) Limited, presented on Merger & Acquisition Activities in Asia Pacific and Future Outlook, and Simon Chan, Director of Business Valuation of Jones Lang LaSalle Sallmanns, presented on Valuation for Pre-IPO Share Options & Financial Instruments.

From BDO Thailand, Andrew Jackomos, Senior Partner of BDO Richfield Advisory Limited, gave a presentation on Deal Structure & General Tax Considerations in Mergers & Acquisitions. Andrew has over 30 years of tax consulting experience

of which 23 years have been in Asia (Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand). Andrew is the Chairman of BDO’s Asia Pacific Tax Committee.

Guests from investment banks, private equity funds and law firms attended. The conference provided an excellent platform for participants from different professions to discuss and review the current economic environment, corporate finance issues and explore possible strategies for the challenges ahead.

The second day of the conference included presentations and discussions among BDO delegates on how to enhance regional corporate finance cooperation. Delegates from BDO Germany, UK and US also joined the discussion groups.