Paving the Way for the Acceleration of the Globalization of Chinese Enterprises - Announcing the Launch of the "CGG Think Tank" by a Cross-disciplinary Professional Team

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Mar 14, 2014, 05:54 ET

BEIJING, March 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The first think tank on Chinese outbound investment - China Going Global or CGG - was founded recently by CITIC Securities, ShineWing Certified Public Accountants, Zhong Lun Law Firm and BlueFocus Communication Group. The purpose of the CGG Think Tank is to harness the expertise of China's leading professional consulting services and branding/communications services firms on a cross-disciplinary basis to assist Chinese enterprises as they expand globally.

The CGG Think Tank will be officially launched at an international seminar on outbound investment to be held in Beijing on March 20-21, 2014. The theme of this "China Going Global Outbound Investment and M&A Forum" is "What every CEO should know: Strategy, Finance, Law, Branding."

The main sessions of the forum will include the founders and/or CEOs of each of the four CGG founding institutions as well as international speakers from leading global professional organizations. Lord Mandelson, former trade commissioner of the European Union, and currently Chairman of Global Counsel, a leading government relations advisory firm, will be a special guest and keynote speaker at the CGG conference.

The operations-oriented sessions of the seminar are further divided into two separate tracks - "Natural Resources and Infrastructure Projects" and "Manufacturing and Service Sectors," reflecting the two key categories of Chinese outbound investment to date. Top experts from the four founding professional institutions of the CGG Think Tank and their international counterparts from around the world will provide Chinese entrepreneurs with practical advice on how Chinese enterprises can avoid common risks to achieve success as they go global.

At the CGG launch event, the CGG Think Tank will unveil additional elements of its broader platform, including:

publication of two books focusing on outbound investments by Chinese companies in each of the natural resources/infrastructure and manufacturing/service industry sectors; and
launch of a new online and social media information platform for Chinese outbound investment.

CGG aims to offer a one-stop service platform for Chinese enterprises going global covering all key professional service areas, including strategy, finance, law and branding. The two CGG books to be published at the launch will be the first in a continuing series. Future volumes are slated to focus on the financial services sector, Chinese outbound investment in the other BRICS countries, intellectual property, and other management related topics. The CGG online information platform will include not just content from the four founding professional services organizations and their cooperation partners around the world, but will also aggregate practical information on outbound investment in more than 80 countries around the world from a wide variety of public sources. The CGG platform will also be host to a continuing series of seminars, multimedia training courses, and data information alerts through the CGG's public WeChat account. The CGG platform will also provide a forum for presenting investment opportunities around the world.

The initial distribution of the CGG content will reach approximately 40,000 senior business managers and government officials across all regions of China. All of the core CGG content will be provided free of charge to the target end users. The objective is for CGG to become one of the primary resources for senior managers in Chinese enterprises to provide them access to the full range of information and practical guidance they need to successfully manage their international investments and business activities.

Robert Lewis, CGG's chief international adviser and senior international legal consultant at Zhong Lun Law Firm, states, "Chinese enterprises do not always fully understand the potential political risks, business risks and legal risks of doing business overseas. There is a well-known Chinese saying - wade across the river by feeling one's way on the stones, which refers to learning from experience. This is the way many Chinese enterprises approach international investment projects, but if each Chinese company employs this approach in respect of its outbound investments, too many will experience serious problems. By combining the professional capabilities of the CGG founding partners across the full range of professional disciplines, CGG is able to pull together all of the relevant expertise, experience and information onto a single platform that can be a one-stop resource for Chinese companies going global."

Yan Jianlin, member of the Board Executive Committee and director and general manager of CITIC Securities, notes, "CITIC Securities is expanding globally to keep pace with the globalization of the Chinese economy and Chinese enterprises. CITIC Securities is the first Chinese investment bank to have a separate M&A department, and in 2007 we formed a special team for outbound M&A with a presence in mainland China, Hong Kong, New York, London and Toronto. In 2013, CITIC Securities acquired 100% of the shares of Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia (CLSA) Asia-Pacific Markets. In combination with partners in America and Europe, CITIC Securities now has its own network and professionals across all of the major markets in the world, and has concluded over 30 outbound M&A deals in recent years. We are pleased to be a founding partner of the CGG platform, and look forward to working with the other professional firms in CGG to contribute to the success of Chinese enterprises going global."

ShineWing Certified Public Accountants provides the accounting expertise for the CGG platform. It is the first China-based accounting firm to set up offices overseas, with offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Australia, and also has bolstered its international capabilities through a merger with the China- and Asia-based groups of a leading international accounting firm with a hundred year history. Its service offering now extends to reach all major areas in the world through its international cooperation partnerships.

Zhang Ke, Chairman of ShineWing, states, "Chinese enterprises are facing challenges from the perspectives of financial and taxation risk management and assessment and selection of the most favorable financing and transaction framework. We find that more and more of our Chinese clients strongly prefer to work with their China-based professional advisors for outbound projects. ShineWing intends to help more Chinese enterprises become more active and important participants, and even leaders in the global market through our participation in CGG."

The legal aspects of Chinese outbound investment are covered by CGG co-founder Zhong Lun Law Firm, which was named by Chambers Asia Pacific as PRC Law Firm of the Year for both 2011 and 2014, and for the past three consecutive years has been the top-rated Chinese law firm in the overall rankings by Chambers. Zhang Xuebing, the founding partner of Zhong Lun, states, "Legal services are a necessary complement to the overall strategy of Chinese enterprises going global. Zhong Lun is the first Chinese law firm to form a team specialized in assisting our Chinese clients in respect of their outbound investment projects, and this team is now comprised of nearly 20 bilingual senior international lawyers who previously were partners or equivalent in leading international law firms, supported by another 50 or more lawyers with qualifications in both China and either the US, UK, Hong Kong, France, Canada, Australia, or other key international jurisdictions. This international investment team is based principally in our Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, London, New York and Tokyo offices. At the same time, we have set up a network of leading law firms in more than 100 countries and territories with which we cooperate closely in respect of cross-border investments and transactions involving Chinese companies across a wide range of industries, including oil and gas, power, alternative energy, railway and transportation, mining, telecommunications, manufacturing, high-tech and entertainment sectors. We look forward to being able to better serve our Chinese clients as they go global through cooperation with the other experts comprising CGG."

The branding management experts of CGG are from BlueFocus, the largest communication group in China. Mao Yuhui, President of Blue Focus, states, "Branding communication is something that Chinese enterprises may often overlook when going global in comparison with the management attention typically paid to issues of strategy, finance and law. It is time for Chinese brands to become global brands and to keep pace and even lead the global expansion of the products and capital from Chinese enterprises. This affects not only a company's international business in the long-run, but also is critical in respect of the management of public relations crises as they may arise in the context of the international operations of Chinese businesses. In recent years Blue Focus has invested in and acquired offshore branding and media companies, complementing our already strong international resources in order to assist Chinese enterprises communicate effectively with other international parties and build Chinese brand names. We are very enthusiastic about our role on the CGG platform, and look forward to working with the other CGG founders to provide Chinese enterprises with more tools for success as they go global."

SOURCE BlueFocus Communication Group