Wednesday, 21 April 2010
|
| 08:15 |
Registration and refreshments
|
| 09:00 |
Opening remarks |
| 09:15 |
Opening keynote: Japanese innovation and its role in the global
economy
|
| 09:45 |
Japan in a time of flux
The global financial crisis has taken its toll on everyone from trading
companies to PE fund managers. In Japan’s case though, it might well turn out to
be just the catalyst that the market has been waiting for. Meanwhile, the PE
community will soon receive the ultimate accolade: the government’s launch of
INCJ—the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan.
- How are PE funds harnessing Japan’s deepening economic malaise to build
strategic relationships with institutions and promoters?
- How are PE fund managers and business leaders thinking about Japan’s role in
the region and in the world, in light of its structural challenges at home?
- How have Carlyle, Bain and Marunouchi Capital managed to get away
multi-million-dollar deals in the last quarter, and will other managers follow?
- Is the announcement of the death of buyouts in Japan premature, and what
prospects are there for growth capital investments in the world’s second-largest
economy?
|
| 10:45 |
Coffee/tea networking break
|
| 11:15 |
Venture capital
The past year has seen a flurry of VC deals completed in Japan, many of them
early-stage or even seed investments. While this trend was begun in 2008 by the
regional Small and Medium Business Investment & Consultation companies, 2009
has seen a much greater degree of private-capital investment:
- Where has this spurt of creativity come from, and which sectors is it
focused on?
- Is Japan developing its own “Silicon Valley” ethos outside the research arms
of the big conglomerates?
|
| 12:15 |
Emerging markets around the world
For LPs, returns are what matter: Asia’s emerging PE markets compete with
other asset classes and other regions for limited partner allocations. In this
panel we take a look outside Asia at how other emerging markets around the world
are performing.
- Outside Asia, which are the leading emerging markets for PE, and what are
their expected growth profiles and key growth drivers? (commodities, domestic
markets, exports, other natural resources)
|
| 13:00 |
Lunch |
| 14:15 |
India & China—the emergence and development of the 21st century’s
leading economies
With GDP growth either approaching or exceeding 8% for the last quarter,
India and China respectively are among the main reasons for Asia’s shrugging off
the economic influenza which still has Western economies running a high fever.
- What are the unique—as well as the shared—strengths of the emerging economic
superpowers?
- How quickly, and to what degree, is pent-up domestic demand expected to fuel
top-line growth in companies serving the two markets? Can foreign suppliers
participate?
- What limits are there on FDI in each market, in aggregate, and by sector?
Which sectors offer the best investment returns?
|
| 15:15 |
Special address: Real estate opportunities in Japan and across
Asia
A review of the opportunities in real-estate, both in Japan and around Asia.
Both PE-style investments in developers, as well as annuity income from
investing in R.E. management companies.
|
| 15:45 |
Coffee/tea networking break |
| 16:15 |
Turnarounds, restructuring and other special situations
If European and other governments reviled LBO investors as “vultures”, surely
they must celebrate turnaround-merchants as, if not saints, certainly the
good-Samaritans of the investing community. As the credit crunch has bitten into
companies’ ability to borrow, and management and financing inefficiencies have
gradually eaten up their cash flow, a good number of otherwise-strong firms have
begun to falter:
- What are the key differences between companies which can be saved, versus
those which can’t, and how do turnaround professionals spot the difference?
- Where are regulations helping with early-intervention, and which countries
impede the access of restructuring funds until it’s too late?
- Does government-sponsored debt underwriting / forgiveness strengthen
economies or simply sustain corporate zombies at a high cost to the taxpayer?
- What is the net effect on the wider economy?
- What are the most important tools in the “special situations” investor’s
arsenal?
|
| 17:15 |
Day one concludes
|
| 18:00 |
Cocktail reception |
| 19:00 |
Gala
dinner
|
Thursday, 22 April 2010
|
| 08:15 |
Registration and refreshments
|
| 09:00 |
Opening remarks |
| 09:15 |
Keynote address: INCJ investment strategy
|
| 09:45 |
Investing in infrastructure
Infrastructure is well-understood to be fundamental to the success of
developed economies. The recent redoubling of development in Asia’s two emerging
majors, China and India, serves notice to the rest of the world that their
respective governments are very serious about developing—and fast.
- What and where are the headline opportunities in emerging Asia (India,
China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand)? How do they compare to those in developed
Asia (Japan, South Korea, Singapore) in terms of risk and return?
- Are Asia’s frontier markets (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Central
Asia) ripe for investments yet, and if not, what pieces of the puzzle are
missing?
- Where do infrastructure investments fit in a balanced portfolio?
- What are governments around the region doing to stimulate investment in
infrastructure, and what are the limitations being set on FDI in this area?
|
| 10:40 |
Special address: Security with a kick
A review of how mezzanine can not only add value to PE-funded deals, but also
provide a baseline stability to an LP’s PE portfolio: Including why its apparent
expense, when compared to other sources of funding, is worth it.
|
| 11:10 |
Coffee/tea networking break |
| 11:30 |
Lessons from horticulture—transplantation of J-business models to
the rest of Asia
Japan’s kaizen discipline has led to many of her companies becoming the
leaders in their fields globally: Canon, Honda, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi and Nomura
are but a handful of high-profile examples. With the gradual inversion of the
country’s population pyramid however, Japan’s up-and-coming companies are facing
an increasingly tough battle to gain share in a shrinking market.
- What are the core factors which have buoyed Japan to number two in the world
rankings, and how exportable / replicable are these business models outside
Japan?
- Where have Japanese corporates been cultivating growth around the region,
and where do future opportunities lie?
- What challenges do companies face in making overseas acquisitions, and how
can private equity play a role in minimising or eliminating these hurdles?
- Which sectors of the economy offer the most fertile ground for
transplantation of business models, or grafting on new growth?
|
| 12:15 |
Growth capital in Japan
Growth capital accounted for 10% of the deal value in 2009, and over 20% of
total deal volume. The value of deals in 2009, at US$ 470m, was five times the
2008 total of US$ 90m.
- What has driven the explosion of growth capital deals in 2009?
- How does deal pricing in Japan compare with elsewhere in Asia?
- How are banks’ principal investment arms influencing private groups’ ability
to source and close deals?
- What are the value drivers for investors in Japanese companies, and how are
GPs unlocking this value?
- What organisational changes are GPs effecting within their portfolio
companies, and how easy or otherwise is it to get management to accept their
suggestions?
|
| 13:30 |
Lunch |
|
Growth capital in Japan
Japan’s domestic LPs are looking to diversify their portfolios whilst
enhancing returns, and many are beginning to look for opportunities beyond
Japan’s shores. Meanwhile, international institutional investors remain
interested in Japan’s highly developed economy, if not always fully engaged.
- What are the big attractions in Japan’s PE market? Do regional or
country-specific funds offer the best vehicle, and what’s the right degree of
internationalism in local teams?
- Where do LPs stand on the issues thrown up by ILPA’s white paper? Will the
status quo persist, or are the winds of change blowing?
- How can LPs hedge their exposure to exchange-rate movements? And what can
GPs do to help?
- How are Japanese funds performing relative to their cousins in the rest of
Asia?
|
| 14:30 |
Conference concludes |