Recruiting in China

Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) will on Friday name its first country head for China, the latest senior hiring by the bank in recent weeks as it attempts to expand its Asian operations.

The bank (TBHS - news) has poached Betty Deng, Citigroup's deputy chairman in China, a Harvard-educated banker, regarded as having strong links to the country's state-controlled enterprises.

Ms Deng will report to Lee Zhang, the bank's China chairman and regional head of global banking and be charged with developing the Deutsche Bank franchise in the country.

The bank's footprint spans investment, retail and corporate banking, and private wealth and asset management.

It recently applied to incorporate its mainland operations, a move that will eventually allow it to offer banking products in local currency.

Ms Deng's capture comes amid a hiring spree by Deutsche Bank in which it has recruited eight senior investment bankers and equity market specialists in Asia after losing ground advising on mergers.

The value of announced takeovers in the region reached a record $187bn in the first three months of the year.

However, Deutsche Bank has fallen from fourth in 2004 to seventh this year in advising on Asia-Pacific (002790.KS - news) acquisitions, dropping behind UBS (Virt-X: UBSN.VX - news) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS - news) in the rankings.

Last year, it was one of three international advisers to the record $21.9bn listing of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the mainland's largest lender.

Among the hirings are Gordon Paterson, one of the region's heaviest-hitting investment bankers, poached from Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) to be the bank's Asia head of mergers and acquisitions.

Another star recruit is Angus Barker, who was lured away from UBS to head the bank's financial sponsors unit.

Rival bankers say Deutsche Bank has managed to prise away staff only by guaranteeing some of the hirings multi-million dollar contracts and that the bank faced huge losses if it failed to win new business.

However, Mr Zhang said: "The build-up of senior banking talent is an investment to take our franchise to the next level."

Kelly Services Inc. said today it has acquired an Asian staffing firm that will expand Kelly's reach in the Pacific region.

Troy-based Kelly said it will purchase P-Serv, a company that offers temporary and permanent staffing, recruiting and outsourcing services in mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Kelly said China's staffing market is expected to reach $2.5 billion this year.

NetEase.com CFO Resigns for Personal Reasons; Board Member Also Submits Resignation

NEW YORK (AP) -- China-based online gaming services company NetEase.com Inc. said Monday its chief financial officer Denny Lee resigned, effective June 30, for personal reasons.
The company also said Donghua Ding resigned from its board of directors.

Effective June 30, Onward Choi, the company's current financial controller, will serve as acting chief financial officer, the company said.

American Depositary Shares of NetEase.com rose 46 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $18.29 Monday

MORRISVILLE, N.C. – The abrupt announcement last week that Mary Ma was stepping down as chief financial officer at Lenovo could be a sign of internal wrangling among the PC company’s management.

At least that’s the word from Forbes magazine.

“Her retirement as chief financial officer, ostensibly for unspecified ‘personal reasons,’ probably signals the end of Lenovo’s effort to merge its mostly China-focused operations, along with a Chinese management culture, with IBM’s America-centric international PC businesses, and the beginning of a phase that will focus more on cost-cutting and boosting efficiency,” wrote Shu-Ching Jean Chen out of Forbes’ office in Hong Kong.

Ma, whose Chinese name is Ma Xuezheng, is only 54 years old and has been with Lenovo for 27 years. She also has been widely regarded as not only one of the most powerful women in China but also in the world. In fact in 2005 and 2006 Forbes ranked her as one of the globe’s most powerful female executives.

When Lenovo purchased IBM’s personal computing unit in 2005, Ma played a crucial role.

Ma’s departure was disclosed even as Lenovo reported a quarterly profit of $66 million that far exceeded analysts’expectations. The profit news also triggered a 15 percent surge in Lenovo stock.

But Ma is likely to be missed.

“Her straight-taking style and fluency in English have won her many fans in the financial markets,” Forbes said. “Over the years, she has built a reputation as a no-nonsense, trustworthy businesswoman, and analysts thought she had a firm grip on the company's finances.”

A source cited as a “senior company employee” at Lenovo told Forbes: “It might be a good time for her to retire when Lenovo seems to turnaround. But definitely it is a big loss to Lenovo as she is so instrumental to molding different cultures.”

Ma was more than just a Lenovo executive, however. She also had become a symbol of China’s private enterprise efforts. In fact, the prestigious McKinsey Quarterly published a lengthy interview with her in its April issue.

“The success of [the IBM] deal, heralded as a signal moment in China’s transition from a developing to an industrial economy, was due in no small part to Lenovo’s energetic senior vice president and CFO, Mary Ma,” wrote Gordon Orr and Jane Xing.

Ma told the reporters that cultural integration between companies of the east, such as Lenovo, and of the west, such as IBM, is quite a challenge.
“These East-West cultural differences are built into our identities from a very early age and affect the very basic ways that people interact,” Ma told The McKinsey Quarterly. “Many Chinese companies still don’t realize how much a long-term effort is needed for cultural integration at this level.”

Dragon Capital Corporation (TSX: AHD - News), a miner and producer of zinc, lead and silver in China, today announced the appointment of Graham Warren as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Warren will replace Oliver Xing; the appointment is subject to approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Graham Warren is a Certified Management Accountant and his previous experience includes various assignments as CFO for a number of public and private companies. He is especially familiar with business in China as a director (and former CFO) of Hanfeng Evergreen (TSX) and a founder of Changfeng Energy Limited.

"We believe we are significantly strengthening our management team with the addition of Mr. Warren," said Christopher Harrop, Chairman of Dragon Capital. "On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would also like to extend our gratitude to Mr. Xing for his contribution to Dragon Capital during its formative period as a Canadian public company."

About Dragon Capital (Arehada)

Through its 100% owned subsidiary Arehada Mining Corporation, Dragon Capital is engaged in the exploration, development, extraction and refining of zinc, lead and silver in Dongwuzhumuqinqi, located in Inner Mongolia, China. Arehada produces zinc and lead concentrates, which are then sold to smelters in China.

Arehada is currently constructing its own zinc plant with a designed processing capacity of 100,000 tons per annum. The first phase, with a rated capacity of 50,000 tons per annum, will produce zinc oxide and sulphuric acid.

For further information

Christopher Harrop, Chairman, Dragon Capital Corporation, Tel.: (416) 350-5133, Email: porrah@gmail.com
Martti Kangas, Investor Relations, The Equicom Group, Tel: (416) 815-0700 x 243, Email: mkangas@equicomgroup.com

(by Asian Legal online & DaCare Legal)

Over the last year or so the number of clients, both private practice and in-house, seeking to recruit lawyers for their operations in Beijing and Shanghai has seen a steady increase and this is expected to continue throughout 2004. Mainland China is a vast and complex market for most businesses and the position is no different for law firms operating there.

Recruiting the right people for offices on the ground is very difficult and for law firms it is often the case of making the upfront investment in people with the returns on the investment lagging far behind. Not only do language skills play a big part but also experience in the local markets is increasingly important. Beijing and Shanghai are different legal markets and if a client is recruiting for example in Shanghai their clear preference is to have someone already in the local market. The trend in the past has been to relocate people with the necessary skills from Hong Kong and, while this will continue, there will be a developing market in both Beijing and Shanghai for people already on the ground moving firms.

The development of local law firms is also worth noting. The writer on a recent trip to Shanghai met with a number of successful local firms who also face complex recruitment issues. While not an immediate trend, it is envisaged that major local players will eventually seek to recruit lawyers from Hong Kong for their offices in Shanghai or Beijing. The practising rules and CEPA already envisage this kind of movement with the only obstacle being the discrepancy in salary levels.

The Mainland in-house market will also continue to develop at a pace. Of all the legal recruitment markets over the last year, the in-house market has held up well. There is an ever-increasing need to recruit good quality local lawyers for in-house positions with multinationals. There already exists a well-organised in-house lawyers group whose members are being presented with an ever-increasing range of in-house opportunities.

There is no doubt that the legal market in Mainland China will continue to grow - the challenge for everyone involved will be how to attract the right people and how to make a return on the investment involved - there will be no easy fixes in this regard.

Search Firm: DaCare Legal Search
Website: www.dacare-legal.com

Office: shanghai, beijing, china
Keywords: legal recruiting, law jobs, attorney jobs in China

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