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The Financial Crisis: The Impact on Private Equity in Emerging Markets

"Join a panel of distinguished experts as they share their insights on the future of private equity in emerging markets. Hear their perspectives on how these economies are coping with the changes caused by the economic slowdown, which countries are geared for positive growth, what the key areas of concern are, as well as where the new opportunities for private equity lie as it adapts through the financial crisis."

Speakers:

Shad Azimi, Managing Partner, Vanterra Capital
Victor Z. Gao, Executive Director, Beijing Private Equity AssociationSecretary-General, China Private Equity Association (invited)
Victor J. Menezes, Senior Advisor, New Silk Route Partners (invited)
Khaled Al-Muhairy, Founder and CEO, Evolvence Capital
Peter R. Ryder, Co-Chairman, IndoChina Capital
John Schumacher, Founder and CEO, New York Life Capital Partners

Date: Monday, May 18
Time: 6:30pm-9pm
6 - 6:30pm -- Registration
6:30 - 8pm -- Discussion
8 - 9pm -- Reception

Location: Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021

Event URL: Click here

RSVP: By phone, (212)-517-ASIA (M-F 10am-5pm) or online

VERY FAR OFF-TOPIC: When in New York for this event, may I suggest that this website will direct you to great burger joints for dinner or a snack afterwards. I just think it's a great site.

The New York Times reports:

Exports from mainland China slumped 22.6 percent in April from a year earlier, official statistics showed — a fall that was not only larger than economists had expected but also bigger than that in March, when overseas shipments declined 17.1 percent.

Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang

With audio!

If you see this book available for sale online, please let me know. Amazon does not have it up yet.

A Columbia University economist known for his extraordinary conclusions -- some right -- evidently knows something everybody else does not.

The Chinese yuan is preparing to overtake the US dollar as the world's reserve currency, economist Nouriel Roubini has warned.

Read his article and several comments here. Frankly, it doesn't look like anything more than an educated guess. What support is there for such an extraordinary statement? Certainly none in the article itself. And the RMB isn't even fully convertible -- and I don't believe will ever become so. Convertibility -- essentially, the making of a truly internationalized currency -- has been a subject of discussion and prognostication for 30 years, ever since China used foreign exchange certificates in the early days after the initial economic reforms of 1978. How is it in the interests of the Chinese government and Chinese commerce to make it fully convertible? This is a question that no one seems to address.

Already, some are hitching on to a star in the hopes of its ascending to the extraordinary heights. I well remember the reports and predictions of the supremacy of the Japanese yen in the 1980s.

As proof of this gentleman's economic wisdom, writers consistently cite his previous prediction of financial collapse. But then again, I know quite a few non-economists who predicted the same thing!