Time: Saturday, March 8, 2008, 12:35 pm - 1:50 pm

In the recent years we have seen a growing number of initial public offerings of Asian corporations in their respective markets and overseas. This panel will explore the context of the recent IPOs and their significance in the economic growth and privatization of Asia. Panelists will share their experiences working on notable IPOs. They will also discuss the impact of IPOs on the regional and international economy, along with the possible future trends of IPOs in light of the current economic situation.

Leiming Chen

Partner, Simpson Thacher

Mr. Chen is a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in the firm's Hong Kong Office, where he has advised primarily on capital markets matters. Mr. Chen has worked on a variety of equity and debt offerings, including in the context of privatizations. Transactions in which he has been involved include SEC-registered offerings, Rule 144A/Regulation S offerings and listings in the United States and Hong Kong for companies in the telecom, banking, insurance, oil and gas, technology, retail, real estate, manufacturing and other sectors. Mr. Chen regularly advises public companies on corporate governance and regulatory compliance matters, including issues arising under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Mr. Chen's geographic focus is China and he has played a key role in executing some of the most significant privatizations and securities offerings by leading companies in China, including PetroChina, China Mobile, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Bank of China, China Telecom and China Ping An Insurance. Mr. Chen has also been involved in a number of important cross-border M&A transactions for Chinese companies, including China Mobile and PetroChina. Mr. Chen also regularly advises on M&A and investments transactions in China involving private equity funds.

Mr. Chen has been recognized as one of the leading capital markets lawyers in China/Hong Kong in a number of recent surveys, including Asialaw Leading Lawyers (2007), The Asia Pacific Legal 500, Chambers Global Guide to the World's Leading Lawyers for Business, Chambers Asia Guide to the Asia's Leading Lawyers and Legal Who's Who (Hong Kong). Prior to joining Simpson Thacher, Mr. Chen was a partner in the Hong Kong office of Shearman & Sterling LLP.

Mr. Chen received his LL.B. in 1994 from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (Toronto, Canada) and his B.A. in 1981 from Hangzhou Teachers College (Hangzhou, China). He is fluent in Mandarin and Shanghaiese Chinese.

Paul P. Chen

Partner, Dewey & LeBoeuf

Mr. Chen is a corporate transactions attorney with extensive experience representing issuers and financial institutions on financing and merger and acquisition transactions, primarily in the life insurance and financial services industries. His finance experience includes public offerings and private placements of debt and equity securities in the United States, Bermuda and Asia. He also has advised clients in several merger and acquisition transactions involving insurance companies. Mr. Chen has also served the financial services and life insurance industries as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company in Asia.

Victoria Ivashina (Moderator)

Assistant Professor, Harvard Business School

Victoria Ivashina joined the Finance Unit of Harvard Business School as a tenure track professor in 2006. She currently teaches the required finance course in the first-year MBA program. Her research interests are in the area of corporate finance with a focus on financial intermediation. In 2008, she was awarded Harvard Business School's Berol Fellowship for Research Excellence.

Professor Ivashina holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University and a B.A. in Economics from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. Prior to receiving her Ph.D., she worked in the research department of the Superintendency of Banking and Insurance, a Peruvian government agency with regulatory functions similar to those of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.

Jiang Liu

Associate, Sullivan and Cromwell

Mr. Liu is an Associate at Sullivan & Cromwell's New York office, where his practice areas include Financial Institutions. He was resident in Sullivan & Cromwell's Hong Kong office from 2002-2006. Mr. Liu has advised corporate clients and their financial advisers on securities offerings, M&A transactions, and other corporate and regulatory matters.

Alan Seem

Partner, Shearman & Sterling

Mr. Seem is a partner in the firm's Beijing office. His primary areas of focus are SEC-registered and Rule 144A/Regulation S securities offerings, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, private equity, hedge funds and venture capital investments. Some of his recent expereince includes working with Qiao Xing Mobile Communication Co., Ltd. in its US$160 million initial public offering and New York Stock Exchange listing, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. in its formation of a US$400 million enterprise networking joint venture with 3Com Corporation, and the underwriters, led by China International Capital Corporation, Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, in the simultaneous US$2 billion global follow-on equity offering and the US$600 million global debt offering, respectively, by China Mobile (Hong Kong).

Kenji Taneda

Associate, Sullivan and Cromwell

Mr. Taneda is an associate in Sullivan and Cromwell's New York Office. His practice areas include Financial Institutions, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Securities. From 2004 to 2007, he practiced in the firm's Tokyo office, where his practice was focused on international capital markets. His work included representation of both issuers and underwriters in prominent international equity and debt offerings by numerous Japanese industrial companies, private and public sector financial institutions, and real estate investment trusts. He speaks fluent Japanese and continues to represent a number of Japanese clients in M&A, joint venture, capital markets, bank regulatory and other matters from the New York office.