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Wang Xiangwei

Levin Zhu Yunlai, a son of Premier Zhu Rongji, has become the head of Hong Kong operations at China International Capital Corp (CICC), the mainland's first joint-venture investment bank, sources close to the company said.

 The younger Mr Zhu, who has lived in the United States for more than 10 years and holds a doctoral degree, joins a number of sons and daughters of senior government officials to have set up base in Hong Kong.

 Li Xiaolin, a daughter of Li Peng - number two in the Communist Party hierarchy and chairman of the National People's Congress - is the vice-president of China Power International, which intends to seek a listing in Hong Kong.

 The appointment of the younger Mr Zhu is expected to strengthen the investment banking business of CICC, a joint venture between Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and China Construction Bank.

 In the past year, CICC has hired a number of experienced mainlanders who have studied overseas and worked at big international investment banks including Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and HSBC.

 The younger Mr Zhu and CICC officials were unavailable for comment yesterday.

  Sources said Levin Zhu, who was hired by CICC more than a year ago and has been in Hong Kong for six months, had been trying to keep a low profile.

 They said he was hired on his professional experience and educational background rather than his family ties.

 Before joining CICC, he worked at Credit Suisse First Boston and at a big accounting firm in the US.

 Sources said the younger Mr Zhu would have to work harder than anybody else to prove himself.

 'Many people always have the wrong assumption that whenever a senior official's offspring is hired, it must be because of his or her family ties,' one source said.

 'This also puts pressure on the employer and other employees because people would say whatever the company has achieved, it must be due to his or her connections.'  CICC, launched in August 1995, has been expanding aggressively in the past year at a time when the investment banking community worldwide has been forced to trim payrolls in the wake of the Asian financial crisis.

 The firm has more than doubled the number of people on its payroll to more than 150 in the past year.

 Last year, CICC made its mark by bringing China Telecom to the market to raise US$4.2 billion, in co-operation with US investment bank Goldman Sachs.



Zhu's son made chief of CICC operations