bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Celine Sun

'Father of the red chips' Francis Leung Pak-to has  joined a family venture set up by former Citic Pacific chairman Larry Yung Chi-kin  to invest in large-scale projects on the mainland.
The veteran capital investor has been appointed vice-chairman and managing director of Yung's Enterprise Holdings. Yung resigned from Citic Pacific last April following the company's wrong-way bet  on the Australian dollar.
'My role is to help seek investment opportunities and structure deals for the company,' said Leung, whose appointment takes effect  this month.
He revealed that the company was already running a few projects in the property and energy sectors.
'I will not limit myself to any sectors but will be more interested in those that can benefit from the mainland's economic policies, such as financial services and the consumer industry,' he said.
The 55-year-old investor became known as 'the father of red chips' after arranging a string of listings for  mainland companies in the mid-1990s, including Cosco Pacific, Shanghai Industrial and Beijing Enterprises.
He made a switch from the 'sell side' to the 'buy side' when he quit his job at Citigroup in 2006 and established his own company.
In recent years, his personal investments have included online electronics retailer 360buy.com, Guangzhou-based property company Star River and cosmetics retailer Water Oasis.
Leung said Enterprise Holdings intended to   acquire or enter into partnerships with other mainland companies.
He declined  to disclose the firm's capital expenditure for this year,  but said investments made by the company would be  substantial.  
Leung, who described Yung as 'an old friend', was a key person involved in the listing of Citic Pacific, the first red chip,  on the Hong Kong stock market in 1990 when he  was  head of Peregrine Investment Holdings. 
Leung will continue to work for CVC Asia Pacific, a global buyout fund, as a part-time adviser, as well as run his private investment company Luminary Capital.  
The venture capitalist made headlines in the local press early last month after he formed a consortium with investor Mico Chung Cho-yee  to attempt a rescue of the loss-making animation producer Imagi International  Holdings. 
According to the deal, the duo would subscribe to 1.88 billion new Imagi shares at 7 HK cents per share and provide a bridging loan of HK$20 million for the company's debt restructuring.  
Although it was his first investment in the entertainment sector, Leung said there would be plenty of business opportunities after the Chinese government issued a Cultural Industry Promotion Plan last year.
'The development of the cultural industry has been left far behind other sectors in China,' he said. 'I think it could be a quite profitable business as long as we avoid touching ideological issues.'
He also said there was the possibility Imagi  would  seek mainland partners and expand from animation to the entertainment and media sectors across the border.



Francis Leung joins Yung venture