William XU: A Senior Practitioner of Capital Operations

William XU

• MSc 2008 Intake, KEDGE Business School
• Investment Dept. Director
• China Fortune Media Group

William XU, Director of Investment Department at China Fortune Media Group, has worked previously in the field of capital operations, investment and financing for listed companies like BOE Technology Group (000725) and New Hope Group (000876). With his family background, William has taken an interest in investment and financing at an early age. The years spent studying in France and perfecting professional abilities at work have bestowed on him enhanced knowledge and practical experience. In pursuit of his personal development, he aspires to follow the lead of the great men in the old times, applying his expertise as an impetus for domestic companies to achieve significant growth and rise into the first tier in the world.

Study at KEDGE: effective preparation for career development

At the very beginning, William worked as intern in the investment banking division in a securities company. In the process of sorting and reading lots of documents, he was exposed to information about capital operations for listed companies. Compared to the internship job, William found himself more attracted to the working role that would allow him to develop a comprehensive understanding of various industries and participate in the decision making. Since then, he decided to involve himself into the work of capital operations.

« Running capital operations for public companies requires an open eye and a visionary mind. In addition to specialised knowledge and skills, you also need to equip yourself with other professional abilities. In this regard, my study experience at KEDGE Business School has done me a great favour. »

For William, he owes the smooth admission to listed companies most to what he has learnt at KEDGE:

• Specialised knowledge and skills:

Through case studies and business simulations, KEDGE Business School offers practice-oriented classes where you can learn theoretical knowledge and master the skills like analysing financial statements, calculating cash flow valuations, building options models, etc.

• Communication and cultural empathy:

KEDGE is a community that enjoys a high level of internationality. Discussions and assignments in groups encourage students to improve both their English and French and become more tolerant facing cultural differences. In an international working environment, understanding the social characteristics of different cultures could help to seize the initiative in business cooperation.

« Later when I was seeking collaborative opportunities with Cooperl Arc Atlantique, the largest pork processing company in France, it was exactly the cultural empathy cultivated during my stay at KEDGE that helped to bring the two sides closer and achieve the final cooperation. »

Capital operations characteristics in different industries

Up to the present, William has almost 10 years working experience in capital operations, investment and financing for listed companies, covering many industries like technology, food, media, etc.

In BOE Technology Group, he assisted in completing the Group's 56 billion yuan A-share IPO project, investing in equity investment projects on production lines like Beijing 8.5 TFT-LCD, Hefei 8.5 TFT-LCD, Chongqing 8.5 TFT-LCD, Hefei 6.0 TFT-LCD, Erdos 5.5 AM-OLED, etc, and reached companies like Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Ping An Bank, Alibaba and Tencent for discussions on the reform of mixed ownership in state-owned enterprises.

In New Hope Group, he introduced financial institutions like “China-LAC Cooperation Fund”, “China Development Bank Capital” and “Haier Capital” into the company, achieved 5.5 billion yuan investment plan (8.8 billion in total) and participated in oversea investments such as the cooperation with Cooperl Arc Atlantique for importing the fully-developed industrial chain of integration operation model from Europe.

After entering China Fortune Media Group, he prepared for the official establishment of the group and led projects in terms of assets acquisition, ownership restruction, listing of the company and corporate governance. So far, the company has achieved 100% equity acquisition of China Securities News and Shanghai Securities News.

With experience of all these years, William shares his point of view about capital operations characteristics of different industries in China:

• Technology: It is difficult to evaluate the long-term returns while a huge amount of capital investment is constantly required. The only way to keep up with the latest technology (even have a step ahead) is to keep investing and developing new product lines or upgrading the existing ones so that the company can provide high value-added products and have a solid customer base. A considerable amount of investment in monitoring your competitors is also necessary especially when you have reached the top of the industry as far as materials, facilities and technologies are concerned.

• Food: The cold chain logistics in China is less developed as our Chinese people prefer to have fresh ingredients for food and the cost for facilities and logistics is quite high, resulting in the shortage of large listed domestic food companies. The vital task for capital operations is to centrally manage the small and fragmented companies that are brought together through acquisition and found high-standard and industrialised food companies. The Charoen Pokphand Group is a good reference regarding its visionary strategies and business models.

• Media: In order to build a modern communication system, the central government has made great efforts to build a new mainstream media with diversified forms, advanced means and strong competitiveness by creating several new media groups with strength, credibility and influence. It is a good opportunity for central media to do capital operations. With the purpose of attracting more young people, the media should play in line with the trends of mobilised, socialised and video-oriented Internet communication, and actively make use of big data, cloud computing and other new technologies to build a new media platform matrix under a more accessible-styled authoritative media brand.

In conclusion, William believes that the objective of capital operations has always been making contributions to industrial entities. And only by mastering the characteristics of each industry can capital operations serve as an effective impetus for domestic companies to go abroad.

Personal development and economy expectations in the future

Speaking of plans for the near future, William expressed his will to keep working on the capital operations for central media. In the company, further steps will be taken to complete tasks like assets acquisition, corporate governance. From the outside, more strategic investors (state-owned enterprises in finance and technology) will be introduced into the company with a view to build a more modern and market-oriented company management model. And the ultimate aim should be getting the group listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

And on a more personal note, William said he would start to reflect on his working experience over the years and write books on capital operations, investment and financing. To explain this plan, he quoted Charlie Thomas Munger from Poor Charlies Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger:

And on a more personal note, William said he would start to reflect on his working experience over the years and write books on capital operations, investment and financing. To explain this plan, he quoted Charlie Thomas Munger from Poor Charlies Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger:

When asked about expectations for China’s economy, William suggested focusing more on the development in the long run rather than the current situation. While making the most of the domestic market, more efforts should be made to enhance independent innovation and protection of intellectual property in order to achieve a strengthening of national capacities for further bargains against other world powers.

Career advice for current students at KEDGE

For students of the finance major at KEDGE, William’s advice for their job-hunting is to keep up with the changing demands, learn to seize opportunities and step into the industry as soon as possible so that they can accumulate more experience in preparation for a long-term career development.

As far as the finance industry is concerned, William proposed several employment seeking directions:

1. Capital market under increment reform: financial institutions and companies related to STAR market
2. Bullish second markets: private equity houses and securities investment institutions
3. Positive development of companies: posts on M&A and capital-raising IPO
4. Open foreign policies in financial markets: foreign securities traders like UBS, JPMorgan, Nomura, etc.)

“Instead of complaining about the overall environment, one may as well attach more importance to personal development by discovering every valuable detail of the current work. Do not blindly follow the trend as everyone has his or her unique key to success. Just remember, there are no unprofitable industries, only non-profitable companies.” Said William.

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