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Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu is scheduled to speak in a fireside chat on Friday during the third Family Business Summit in Hong Kong, as the city burnishes its role as the offshore fundraising hub and ‘superconnector’ between the Chinese mainland and the rest of the world. The speech is the highlight of the conference, curated by the South China Morning Post and Blue Pool Capital, with UBS as the presenting partner. The attendees – by invitation only – comprise about 150 private business owners from the US, Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, as well as Hong Kong and mainland China. “As a top global hub for wealth management and a vibrant international finance centre, Hong Kong is the perfect stage for this Family Business Summit, bringing together the principals of Asia’s and the world’s premier family businesses,” said the Post’s CEO Catherine So, in her welcoming speech at the third annual edition of the conference on Thursday. “The day is made even more special as we mark the 122nd anniversary of the South China Morning Post’s first publication, grounding our forward-looking discussions in a rich legacy of trust and influence.” Lee will be speaking in a fireside chat with Alibaba Group Holding’s chairman Joe Tsai, on the final morning of the one-and-a-half-day conference. Alibaba owns the Post. The annual confab kicked off on Wednesday with a welcome dinner at Cloud 39 at The Henderson in Central. Singapore’s former foreign minister George Yeo spoke during a pre-summit chat over dinner. The main conference day on Thursday featured a score of speakers covering a range of topics from artificial intelligence to geopolitics, macroeconomics, the business of sports and the wines of Burgundy, moderated by the Post’s Masthead editors. A number of Wall Street executives, including KKR’s co-CEO Joseph Bae and General Atlantic’s chairman Bill Ford, shared their perspectives about investing in China, moderated by Tsai, who is also the Post’s chairman. The contents of the entire conference are private, not for reporting. Huang Yiping, the dean of the National School of Development at Peking University, shared his analysis about the state of the Chinese economy with the Post’s executive editor Chow Chung-yan. Ambassador Jorge Toledo, the head of the delegation of the European Union to China, spoke about the state of EU-China relations along with the former French envoy to China, ambassador Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, and professor Cui Hongjian of the Beijing Foreign Studies University, moderated by the Post’s editor-in-chief Tammy Tam. Two Sigma’s co-founder and co-chairman David Siegel spoke during a lunch fireside chat. Tengku Zafrul Aziz, Malaysia’s minister of investment, trade and industry, spoke about the country’s development as the current rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, alongside AirAsia’s founder Tony Fernandes, in a session moderated by the Post’s executive managing editor Zuraidah Ibrahim. Henry Tang Ying-yen, Hong Kong’s chief secretary from 2007 to 2011, held a fireside chat with Guillaume d’Angerville, the owner-manager of Domaine Marquis d’Angerville and Domaine du Pélican. Joseph Yam Chi-kwong, the former chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, will speak about the currency markets on Friday with Xiang Songzuo, the former chief economist of the Agricultural Bank of China, in a panel moderated by the Post’s managing editor Eugene Tang. UBS Asia-Pacific’s president Iqbal Khan and Ant Group’s CEO Cyril Han will speak about the use of AI in the wealth-management business in a panel moderated by the Post’s managing editor Yonden Lhatoo. The conference, which was curated to tackle some of the biggest questions confronting investors and business owners, also talked about the sports industry. NBA Asia’s CEO Michael Ma and the Relevant Sports Group’s co-founder Daniel Sillman spoke about the balance between tradition and innovation in the business of sports. Josh Harris, the founder of 26North, will speak about sports franchises in a panel discussion with Avenue Capital Group’s chairman Marc Lasry, moderated by Tsai. Former Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming will hold a fireside chat with former US NBA point guard Jeremy Lin to close off the conference.
