Boutique investment bank Houlihan Lokey has hired Bing Chen to grow its financial advisory services business in Asia.
Chen has joined Houlihan Lokey's Hong Kong office as a managing director, taking the total number of MDs in Hong Kong to three.
Chen was most recently chief executive officer of VistaJet, a private aviation company headquartered in Switzerland. During his career he has worked across Asia, the United States and Europe. He has been chief financial officer of Comdisco Europe, director of corporate strategy at Deutsche Bank Americas and has also worked at Arthur Andersen.
In Asia, Houlihan Lokey has grown its presence to span offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo. It now has 30 people based in Asia, of whom around 10 are based in Hong Kong. Its largest concentration of offices is in the US where it has a presence in eight states.
Chen will be responsible for spearheading the growth of Houlihan Lokey's financial advisory services (FAS) business unit in Asia. This unit provides clients with assessments, advice and opinions on the fairness or solvency of transactions, the valuation of assets, businesses, securities and complex financial instruments.
"There is a growing opportunity in Asia for the independent opinions and advisory services that Houlihan Lokey has come to be known for during the past 40 years," said Jack Berka, global head of FAS in a written statement.
