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Anna Healy Fenton

Catherine Leung juggles 13-hour work days with raising a growing family

Catherine Leung Kar-cheung could be forgiven if she has seemed a little excited this week as she saw her daughter Katrina on to the school bus each morning.

From there she heads to JPMorgan's Central offices where she is managing director and head of Hong Kong corporate finance for the bank.

This week's task was  leading Hong Kong's first private sector real estate investment trust IPO, the Cheung Kong Prosperity Reit, as joint bookrunner and joint financial adviser. The launch followed hot on the heels of another reit  IPO, the US$3 billion Link Reit, the largest of its kind globally. On this  her  team was financial adviser to the Hong Kong Housing Authority.

As if working at this level in investment banking was not challenging enough,  Ms Leung is also a mother of two  children: Katrina, five and Spencer, 18 months.

Her lifestyle would leave most people  faint. She is at her desk in Chater House by 8.30am and  does not see home again until 9pm and even then conference calls eat into her precious family time. She sees her husband and children only briefly each night.

'Luckily the children don't sleep much,' said Ms Leung, who grew up in Hong Kong before graduating  from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1990.

She keeps up this  routine until Saturday when she works only in the morning and devotes the rest of the day to the children.

She is confident they do not miss out. 'I spend quality time with them.' She and her husband, Ivan Lee Chin-leung, who is managing director and head of fixed income research at Citigroup, see it as important to spend equal time with them. 'It's a partnership, but I do more of the detail like organising schooling and tutors,' she says.

On Sundays, she squeezes in a round of golf at Clearwater Bay or Fanling but often time permits playing only nine holes.

Keeping the plates spinning requires constant effort - and support. 'I am always balancing, there is no moment when I can put my feet up and watch TV for two hours; I'm always on the run to something, always on a call or preparing for a meeting, but I have passion and enthusiasm for my job.'

Ms Leung  admits she could not be one of Hong Kong's most formidable investment bankers without serious domestic back-up,  in the  form of three domestic helpers and both sets of grandparents living nearby.

Having seen her sisters juggling jobs and family in San Francisco, she is sure Hong Kong would be the only place where plentiful childcare and small area makes her career possible.

She hopes she can inspire others. 'I hope it [her story] gives encouragement to any female in my position, balancing a tough job and motherhood. I want to foster the sense there is a group of us.'

Ms Leung  started with JPMorgan at  26 in 1994 after being a financial services consultant at Oliver, Wyman & Company in New York but it was 'a bit of a blue sky for me, a few too many reports, so a natural segue was to go into financial services itself'.

A year later, the bank sent her to Hong Kong. 'I was part of a telecoms group in New York, then part of power and infrastructure group coming back to Hong Kong ...  then having done a few transactions, decided to switch into Hong Kong investment banking.'

Ms Leung's  current role started in 1999 when as a Hong Kong coverage banker, she gave  advice on  mergers and acquisitions, equities, debt and bonds.

'We've come out of a very good 2005 in Hong Kong in JPMorgan and we're pricing a few deals this week. It caps out a very busy year.' Prospects for big bonuses are looking good.

When it comes to the question of triumphing in a traditionally male zone, she chuckles and admits it can seem daunting. But investment banking is a good business for a female because it is  results orientated, Ms Leung said.  It's the same for everyone, regardless of gender. 'Either you deliver, or you don't.'



Achiever sets bar high for working mothers