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Janas Associates Set to Expand [in China] - October 26, 2005


JanasAssociates
Set to Expand
By Li Fangchao

HARBIN: Janas Associates, aglobal investment bank and management consultant, isconsidering establishing one or two subsidiary companies inChina next year, according to its chairman Carter Freeman.
    "We always regard China as having vast potential in our globalbusiness,” said Freeman in Harbin, Northeast China’sHeilongjian Province, where he is attending a seminar onfinancing and mergers and acquisitions (M & A).
    Freeman told China Daily that the subsidiary company willprobably be set up in Shanghai.
    “We have to find a place where we have the most businesses sowe can concentrated on them,” he said.
    Founded in 1989, Janas Associates is a California-basedcompany that provides investment banking and consultingservices like M & A and corporate finance for clients.
    Worldwide it has helped bring its clients financing of US$2billion.
    Though it only stared operating in China two years ago, itsbusiness here already accounts for 40 percent of itsrevenue, said Freeman.
    "The government's plan to re-structure its State-OwnedEnterprises (SOEs) is a very forward-looking strategy," andthere are numerous opportunities to be found during thisprocess, he said.
    Freeman, also a Certified Management Consultant, has morethan 35 years of experience advising clients about M & A,corporate finance and strategic consulting.
    He said most American enterprises know little about Chineseenterprises.

   "So our rich experience in both China and America makes usknow here and there," he said.
    "We are trying to get Chinese companies to understand andaccept the idea of hiring international firms like Janas inthe restructuring process," Freeman went on.
    The company's China-based clients include firms engaged inpolyester and nylon manufacturing, concrete production,high-tech software, packaging and agriculture.
    Freeman said one of the difficulties about working withChina's SOEs is that often a reliable financial statementcannot be obtained. from them.
    "This may partly be because of a shortage of qualifiedbookkeepers," he said, adding: "Most Chinese companies knowlittle about international rules in fields such asinternational M&A or corporate finance."
    Some in the field agreed with him. “We think it valuable tolearn from some international professional consultingcompanies the experience of M&A, corporate finance andmanagement consulting," said Zhao Jie, director of theState-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commissionof Heilongjiang Province.
    "We are interested in the agriculture and manufacturingfields in Heilongjiang Province, as we know some Americancompanies which are very interested in these aspects," saidFreeman.
    Heilongjiang Province is one of the oldest industrial basesin Northeast China and the most important grain productionbase in the country.
    He said it usually takes much longer to finish a transactionand invest cash in China than in the US.
    "But we understand this as most Chinese businesses are in theearly stages of co-operating with international firms, sothey are right to be cautious," he said. “It just takestime.”

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