Ilan Maor
Managing Partner, SHENG-BDO Ziv Haft's Office in Israel
Sheng-BDO in China
SHENG-BDO was established as a joint venture of BDO Consulting Group and SHENG Enterprises. SHENG-BDO, which is based in Shanghai, is a leader in the provision of business development services, professional consulting and investment consulting to Israeli and international clients.
The company combines and leverages the forces, knowledge and experience of the two leading groups, to provide a wide range of services to its clients from its offices in Shanghai and Tel-Aviv and in cooperation with the staff of BDO in Israel and the offices of the BDO Network in China.
SHENG-BDO provides One-Stop-Shop services, comprising of business development services, business consulting, M&A and other services that are tailor made to each client’s needs and to the specific sector.
Additionally, as part of its activities in the field of international investments, the joint venture maintains an extensive and fruitful cooperation with leading investment entities in China and Asia. SHENG-BDO is involved in investment recruiting and debt raising for various projects in China, as well as in escorting negotiations between Israeli, Chinese and international entities.
SHENG-BDO Team
As a company that focuses on services and assistance to Israeli and foreign companies, the human resource constitutes the core of strength of SHENG-BDO.
The professional team of SHENG-BDO combines Israeli and Chinese members, who have different backgrounds and varying specialties, but possess a number of common characteristics:
- Striving for excellence and constant development
- Extensive experience in economic and business activities in China and in promoting international trade activities
- A high level of academic training (90% of the company’s employees hold an academic degree, of which a majority have obtained graduate degrees)
The company’s management team combines training and experience in a wide range of fields that are relevant to the company’s operations, alongside a comprehensive and unique acquaintance with the Chinese market.
Associates and Professional Consultants
The range of fields in which SHENG-BDO is engaged, on the one hand, and the complexity of the Chinese market, on the other hand, require SHENG-BDO to cooperate closely and continuously with a network of associates and professional consultants in China and Israel.
The professional consultants offer sector-specific professional knowledge and provide a deeper understanding of the sector’s components and complexities. The network of local associates in China is also helpful in creating the required connections with business, professional and official (government) entities, as well as in obtaining a better understanding of the regulatory and business environment in the markets.
This network enables SHENG-BDO to focus its activities in relevant channels, shorten the market penetration process and reduce the costs involved in such actions.
Consulting and Business Development
SHENG-BDO was established as a business consulting and development firm for companies seeking to operate in the Chinese market. These companies require our assistance in dealing with both objective and subjective difficulties, such as the geographical distance, language difficulties, business culture differences, bureaucracy and the lack of knowledge and understanding as to the structure and characteristics of the Chinese business system, and more.
Having operated in China for over seven years, SHENG-BDO assists foreign companies in overcoming the aforesaid barriers and penetrating the market efficiently and in a structured manner, based on the objectives of the company and in accordance with the strategy that is formulated as part of the process. This work method optimizes the penetration process and its duration, thereby reducing the related costs and risks.
SHENG-BDO has the know-how and experience in the building and management of distribution channels, the optimization of sales mechanisms, escorting business-commercial orientated negotiations, management and control of commercial entities and consulting on the preferable courses of action with local partners.
Mergers and Acquisitions
SHENG-BDO escorts merger and acquisition transactions with companies in China through to their completion. SHENG-BDO’s escort starts with the identification of companies for potential acquisition, the performance of a business due diligence of the target company, the financial due diligence in cooperation with the BDO Network in Israel and China, the escorting of negotiations through to the completion of the merger or acquisition and the subsequent escort and control of the new entity’s operations.
Investments and Debt Raising
Alongside its activities as a business consulting and development company, SHENG-BDO also finds investors, both Israeli and Chinese, on behalf of investment funds and companies that have successfully launched their activities in China, or are in the process of penetrating the Chinese market, and are looking to raise additional capital for the expansion of their activities.
Additionally, the company assists such companies in raising debt, working in cooperation with Chinese banks and some of China’s leading financing companies.
At the end of 2007, the company has completed a fund raising for the SHENG-BDO China Hospitality Fund, which was established as part of an international venture for the construction of a network of 25 hotels in China under the brand name ‘Hilton Garden Inn’, this in cooperation with H&Q Asia Pacific and RREEF, the real estate division of Deutsche Bank. In the first stage, an initial fund of $ 100 million was raised out of the total cost of the project, which is estimated at $ 500 million.
