"Is China the Next Dubai?" Feb 24th, at the Lansdowne Club

Superficially, Dubai's rapid development from speck of dust in the desert to mirage made real is not that different from China’s. Cheap financing combined with world-class aspirations fueled Dubai's property boom that included the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai. Property prices doubled between 2005 and 2008. The emirate's rulers even targeted a China-beating annual GDP growth of 11% to 2015.

China bulls will dismiss uncomfortable comparisons with Dubai. After all, the population of China is a thousand times greater than the tiny emirate's. And Dubai's $50-billion GDP is less than the wealth China has generated in the last three months.

Jim Chanos, founder of the investment firm Kynikos Associates and iconic short seller, has put the Chinese market in his sights. Chanos made his reputation—and a good chunk of his fortune—as one of the first Wall Street analysts to see that Enron's earnings were pure fiction. He has called China "1000 times worse than Dubai."

Join the London Junto as our panel of experts debate the potential collapse of the Chinese bubble and its implications for the global economy.

Andrew Leung

Andrew is a prominent international China specialist with 40 years of experience in many senior government positions in Hong Kong, including commerce, industry, banking, finance and overseas diplomatic representation. He oversaw the migration and transformation of Hong Kong's industries into the Pearl River Delta, now the Factory of the World. Andrew's last position was Hong Kong’s chief official representative for the United Kingdom and 14 EU and non-EU countries, including Russia, Switzerland and Norway. He is now Chairman of Andrew Leung International Consultants Limited based in London.

Hugh Hendry

Hugh is a partner and CIO of Eclectica. He is the principal portfolio manager and leads both the investment thinking and the research team. He has 18 years' industry experience with Baillie Gifford, CSAM and Odey Asset Management. At Odey he managed a range of funds from $1.0bn of long only European mandates, including the award winning Odey Continental European Fund, to the The Eclectica Fund. Hugh graduated from Strathclyde University in 1990.

He achieved some notariety in 2009 as an early bear on China, thanks to this video that was posted on You Tube.


DATE: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
TIME: 6:30 PM for 7:00 PM
LOCATION: Lansdowne Club (Shelburne Room)
9, Fitzmaurice Place, London. W1J 5JD.
Tube: GreenPark.
email: info@londonjunto.com

Tickets for the event are £25.00. This includes:

=>a welcome glass of wine or other beverage
=>a chance to win a copy of "China: Fragile Superpower" by Susan Shirk