HOGAN Michael James Connolly, one of our independent directors, has over 30 years of experience as an international banker and has lived and worked in Asia, Australia, the Middle East, US and UK. Over this period, he has accumulated considerable experience in strategic planning and execution, risk management and corporate governance. He was an independent director of SinoMab BioScience Limited, a Hong Kong-based biopharmaceutical company focused on therapeutics for the treatment of immunological diseases, from October 2019 to June 2021, where he was closely involved in the company’s initial public offering in Hong Kong. He has also been an investor in and strategic advisor to fintech start-up Moo-Lah Technologies Private Limited since April 2020, which operates a digital embedded savings platform in India. Mr. Hogan had a multinational career with HSBC from September 1987 to July 2019. In August 2016, he was appointed as the Asia Pacific regional chief operating officer for its commercial banking business. In this role, Mr. Hogan was responsible for digital transformation and technology change as well as overseeing risk management, product control, and strategic implementation across 19 countries in Asia Pacific. Prior to that, from September 2011 to July 2016, he was the country head for commercial banking, Australia, where he designed and successfully executed a multi-segment wholesale growth strategy, doubling profitability and reinforcing HSBC’s position as the country’s leading international bank while actively supporting mid-market sponsor and private equity opportunities. Before that, he was the chief executive officer for HSBC Iraq from September 2009 to September 2011, where he successfully upgraded the operating and technology platform to improve customer service and profitability, while working closely with various governments and officials from the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) to champion new banking and capital markets regulations. His earlier roles in HSBC between September 1987 and September 2009 included being the North America regional head of trade and receivables when he was based in New York and global head of custody and clearing for HSBC Securities Services in Hong Kong. He has served as a board director of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong since March 2021 and as the chair of its Finance, Legal & Tax Committee since June 2020.
KIM Chul Young, one of our independent directors, has 15 years of investment banking experience in originating and executing cross-border mergers and acquisitions in the APAC region with a particular focus on technology and the Internet. Since April 2019, Mr. Kim has been head of fundraising at Grab Holdings Inc., Southeast Asia’s leading super app and largest consumer technology company, where he is responsible for fundraising and strategic partnerships. Mr. Kim’s most recent achievements include the currently ongoing $40 billion merger of Grab Holdings Limited with Altimeter Growth Corp, the closing of series A fundraising for Grab Financial Group of over US$300 million. Prior to Grab Holdings Inc., he was a director at Citigroup from June 2010 to March 2019, where he played an integral role in the APAC mergers and acquisitions team with the coverage responsibility of technology sector and private equity clients in the region. Some of his most recent M&A transactions with Citigroup include a $1.1 billion strategic divestment of three verticals by Li & Fung Limited (a Hong-Kong-based global supply chain and logistics solutions partner) to the Fung family and Hony Capital, a take-private of Singapore-listed Global Logistics Properties by the Chinese consortium Nesta Investment Holdings for $18 billion; and a take-private of NYSE-listed Trina Solar by the chairman for $2.4 billion. Prior to Citigroup, Mr. Kim was an associate at Nomura Securities from October 2008 to May 2010 and at Lehman Brothers from September 2007 to September 2008, where he was a key member of Lehman Brothers’ M&A Group that ranked first in the 2008 Asia-Pacific M&A league table. He continued to help build the franchise following Nomura’s acquisition of Lehman Brothers operations in Asia and Europe. He started his investment banking career at Credit Suisse in April 2004.
LAU Hoi Ying Victoria, one of our independent directors, has spent over a decade in investment banking and finance leading execution of M&A and financing transactions. Ms. Lau has been chief administrative officer at Pickupp Limited, a multinational Hong-Kong-headquartered technology-enabled delivery platform, since November 2017, working closely with legal and compliance partners to ensure the business complies with statutory requirements while overseeing more than 85 employees across five Asian countries. Prior to this, she was at Bank of America Merrill Lynch for over ten years, where she was first an analyst, then a responsible officer and director of investment banking from April 2007 to July 2015, and subsequently a director reporting to the chief operating office for Asia-Pacific investment banking from July 2015 to May 2017. In her former roles with the Bank of America Merrill Lynch, she led the execution for several large HK-US financing transactions including the NASDAQ common stock offering of JD.com, and the Hong Kong IPO of Evergrande Real Estate Limited ranging up to $2 billion. Before her career with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, she was a corporate finance analyst at Credit Suisse from March 2004 to March 2007.