Category Leaders on the Move

UTStarcom shows China chief the door

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — After completing a strategic-alternatives review launched in October, network equipment vendor UTStarcom Inc. has rejected proposals for selling the company or splitting it apart. But the company has replaced the chief executive of its China operations, Ying Wu, over what the board considered “differing opinions regarding the company’s strategy to enhance shareholder value,” according to a statement.

Hong Lu, CEO of UTStarcom, will oversee China operations until a new chief is found for that business.

UTStarcom is headquartered in Alameda, Calif., but was founded in China and has continued to realize most of its network equipment sales there. The company has developed a broad range of network infrastructure equipment for both wireline and wireless networks, ranging from cellular basestation controllers to optical transport and Internet Protocol switching systems. It made a concerted effort to break into the North American market following the telecom crash of 2001 but gained only moderate success, even as sales stagnated in China. Layoffs in 2005 and 2006 led to October’s strategic review.

In a prepared statement, UTStarcom chairman Thomas Toy said the best method of maximizing shareholder value was to “move forward with the company as it exists today.”

China’s Ctrip appoints new director following resignation

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) – Nasdaq-listed Ctrip.com International Ltd, an on-line provider of hotel accommodation, airline tickets and packaged tours, has appointed Hideaki Yokomizo to its board of directors, following the resignation of Yoshihisa Yamada, effective Mar 29.

In a statement, the company said Yokomizo is the deputy general manager of Rakuten Travel Inc.

Ctrip did not provide details on the reason for Yamada’s resignation.

China panel maker recruiting former executives from Taiwan, paper says

China-based Shen-Chao Optronics (transliterated from Chinese) is recruiting former executives from Taiwan-based panel and component makers, as the company’s fifth-generation (5G) LCD plant is expected to enter production in 2008, according to the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN).

Hsiang-Kuei Chung, a former vice president of the CRT business of Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), will be responsible of the construction of the 5G plant; Ching-Chih Chen, a former vice president of Quanta Display (QDI), will be responsible for Shen-Chao’s 6G plans while Arthur Chou, former president of Allied Material Technology Corporation (AMTC), a Taiwan-based color filter (CF) maker, may be in charge of its in-house CF production, the paper said.

The paper also reported Shen-Chao is targeting employees at AUO, Chi Mei Optoelectronic (CMO) and HannStar Display.

KY (Kuen-Yao) Lee, chairman and CEO of AU Optronics (AUO), was quoted as saying he has heard of the recruitment plan from Shen-Chao and several high-level executives are said to have joined the China-based maker.

Lenovo Names New VP Cultural Integration, Diversity

February 26, 2007
Lenovo has appointed Yolanda Conyers, as vice president, Cultural Integration and Diversity, responsible for the global integration of the company’s workforce.

“Yolanda has the experience we need to help make Lenovo a success in the global marketplace,” said Ken DiPietro, senior vice president, Human Resources, Lenovo. “Our goal is to leverage the strengths of our employees worldwide, and Yolanda’s expertise in cultural integration will help us to become even more competitive.”

Conyers was most recently director, Worldwide Procurement at Dell, where she led the supply chain strategy team. Prior to that, Conyers was director, Global Diversity, where she helped develop the company’s workforce and marketplace diversity model, including recruitment, retention, outreach, and education. Conyers also held management positions in Dell customer service organization.

Conyers holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from Lamar University, and an MBA from Our Lady of the Lake, San Antonio, Texas.

Merrill Lynch Hires Margaret Ren as China Chairman

By Cathy Chan and Patricia Cheng

Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — Merrill Lynch & Co. hired Margaret Ren as a chairman of China investment banking after U.S. regulators cleared the former Citigroup Inc. executive of wrongdoing in a 2003 initial public offering.

The 48-year-old daughter-in-law of former Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang will report to China region Chairman Liu Erh-fei and Asia banking head Sheldon Trainor, said Damian Chunilal, who leads Merrill’s Asia Pacific investment banking operations.

Ren may help Merrill challenge UBS AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., who together accounted for a quarter of the value of stock sold overseas by Chinese companies last year. Merrill slipped to sixth place last year from fourth in 2005 in arranging such sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It ranked fourth in IPOs, up from sixth in 2005.

“She’s well-connected,” said Stephen De Pretre, a vice president at headhunter Salzer Consulting in Hong Kong. “For companies that need to do deals in an environment that’s very strongly regulated, having people with strong networks at senior levels is crucial.”

Ren confirmed the appointment, which is effective this week, when reached by phone. She declined to comment further. The mother of two has a master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Ren, who joined Citigroup in 2001 after nine years at Bear, Stearns & Co., was suspended in 2004 after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission started probing the firm’s handling of China Life Insurance Co.’s $3.5 billion initial share sale, the world’s biggest in 2003. She was cleared of wrongdoing last year.

Bulking Up

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission on Feb. 2 granted Ren licenses to perform investment banking services. The license approvals on SFC’s Web site list Merrill Lynch as her employer.

“This important hire reflects our commitment to this business,” said Chunilal in an internal memo sent today.

Investment banks and buyout firms are bulking up as companies in China, the world’s fastest-growing major economy, prepare to sell more stock and buy local and overseas competitors. The value of China’s domestic stock markets has more than tripled in the past year, topping $1 trillion.

Chinese initial public offerings soared after the government ended a ban on share sales in May. The $75.4 billion of stock sold in China and Hong Kong trailed only that of the U.S. in 2006.

Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world’s biggest buyout fund, last month hired Antony Leung, Hong Kong’s former financial secretary, to run its business in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Oaktree Capital Management LLC, a Los Angeles buyout firm with more than $33 billion of assets, hired former JPMorgan Chase & Co. Asia Pacific Chairman Ralph Parks same month.

Citigroup’s Woes

Wilson Feng, a vice chairman of China investment banking, was promoted to a chairman, according to the memo.

Citigroup’s fortunes in China waned after it ousted Ren. Her successor as head of China investment banking lasted 15 months. After Ren left in June 2004, 10 of Citigroup’s 13-person investment banking group dedicated to China quit the New York- based company.

The company, whose roots in China go back to 1902, slumped to 11th in overseas stock sales by Chinese companies last year from fourth in 2003, Bloomberg data shows. The only Chinese IPO Citigroup handled last year was China Coal Energy Co.’s $1.9 billion sale in December.

Citigroup is fighting back. Last month, it hired Zhang Wendong, former co-head of China investment banking at UBS AG, to be managing director for China investment banking. In March, it tapped Zhao Jing, former co-head of China investment banking at Morgan Stanley.

`Stronger Than Ever’

“2006 was a year of investment for us and we ended up with a great deal of momentum as the year ended,” Bob Morse, the New York-based firm’s chief executive officer of corporate and investment banking in Asia, said in a Jan. 26 interview. “We have a pipeline that is stronger than it has ever been.”

Chinese companies may raise as much as $55 billion in IPOs this year, with domestic share sales overtaking Hong Kong offerings in value, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Shares of Industrial Bank Co. soared 39 percent in their Shanghai debut today after the $2 billion initial public offer attracted record bids. Investors ordered $150 billion worth of stock — equal to the market value of International Business Corp.

This year, bankers will be courting companies such as Agricultural Bank of China, which last week said it will seek a government bailout to prepare it for an IPO. The bank had 18 percent of outlets in the nation as of last month, and it employs 452,000 people.

Yahoo China President Resigns

Yahoo China has announced Yahoo China president Xie Wen has resigned for personal reasons after just over a month on the job. Xie will now serve as a strategic consultant for Alibaba. Alibaba vice president Zeng Ming will be named Yahoo China’s acting president. Xie was named Yahoo China’s president on October 17. There are rumors that Xie resigned because Yahoo China management did not support his strategic plans for the company.

China: chief editor of youth daily replaced

Another personnel reshuffle has taken place in Zhongguo Qingnian Bao, a daily directly under the Communist Youth League [CYL] Central Committee. Chief Editor Li Erliang has been transferred and the vacancy has been filled by Deputy Editor Chen Xiaochuan. Reportedly, the removal of Li Erliang from office is directly related to the Bingdian incident earlier this year.

The transfer is seen as an attempt by the authorities to “put an end” to the incident that evoked the “serious concern” of the media overseas. It has been reported that the authorities are disappointed by the “trouble” caused by Li Erliang and his failure to properly handle the incident.
The decision was “announced internally” and not made public to the agency.

Li Erliang failed to impose final checks and accommodated his subordinates, which resulted in Bingdian Weekly publishing a series of sensitive articles last year. They include a lengthy piece by Taiwan writer Lung Ying-tai drawing a comparison of democracy on both sides of the Taiwan Straits and deliberately underrating the CPC, an essay exposing Zhongnanhai law academics of winning popularity by deception, and an article by Yuan Weishi, professor of Guangzhou Zhongshan University, on modern history that expressed views different from those of the authorities.

Earlier this year, Bingdian Weekly published an article by Yuan Weishi exploring modern history and criticizing the CPC’s education system. The move caused a sensation and upset the authorities. As a result, Bingdian Chief Editor Li Datong and Deputy Editor Lu Yaogang were both removed from office.

Source: Ming Pao website, Hong Kong (in Chinese) through BBC Monitoring

HONG KONG: Brilliance China CFO quits

Brilliance China Automotive Holdings said chief financial officer Zha Jianping had resigned, effective immediately, to be replaced by Lei Xiaoyang, an executive director of the company.

The Hong Kong holding company told Dow Jones Zha was also finance chief and director of Brilliance’s Shenyang XingYuanDong Automobile Component and director of Shenyang Brilliance JinBei Automobile.

Brilliance China said Zha confirmed he has no disagreement with the board, Dow Jones noted.

Goldman Sachs China venture loses COO to Standard Chartered – report

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) – The chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s China joint venture – Goldman Sachs Gaohua Securities – has quit the firm to join Standard Chartered PLC in Singapore, the Wall Street Journal reportedd, citing a Standard Chartered spokeswoman.

Joe Stevens will start work as group head of principal finance for Standard Chartered on Dec 1, the Hong Kong newspaper reported.

Goldman Sachs Group owns a 33 pct stake in Goldman Sachs Gaohua Securities.

Simmons appoints China chief

Simmons & Simmons managing partner Mark Dawkins has finally appointed a new China regional managing partner. Hong Kong head of financial services Paul Li was handed the post, which was left open by the departure of Huen Wong plus four other partners to launch the first local office of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson. Dawkins said Li’sappointment marked a “restabilisation” of Simmons’ regional teams. The firm now has to fill the partner headcount depleted by the exodus to Fried Frank.