CITIC CLSA Japan Forum 2020 opens today

First virtual investment forum in Japan

Tokyo – 18 May 2020: The 16th CITIC CLSA Japan Forum opens today. The first ever virtual investor conference originated in Japan, this invitation-only event will connect more than 1,000 global investors from 30 countries, 126 leading corporations and 38 international opinion formers in academia, macroeconomics, and new industries, on a brand new digital platform.

Oliver Matthew, Japan Country Head, commented: “In these challenging times, we offer continuity and reliability, delivering creative and investable ideas to our clients and providing a world-class virtual platform for companies to communicate with investors.”

Since its inception in 2004, the then-called CLSA Japan Forum has become a must-attend event for international and domestic institutional investors looking to gain direct access to corporate Japan. In addition to deep corporate access with 900 private meetings, the Forum comprises five days of webinars featuring CLSA’s award-winning equity analysts and strategists and expert guest speakers who will explore market-moving themes, including:

• Ageing Japan: health and societal issues
• Asian consumers: how they shape Japan and Japanese brands
• Automation and efficiency: race into the digital age
• Corporate governance: activism and ESG
• Internet and payments: disruption finally
• Technology trends: impact of 5G and more
• Tourism: Olympics, casinos, expos and theme parks

Eric Fishwick, CLSA’s Chief Economist, will open the 2020 Japan Forum with a cooling analysis of the impact of Covid 19 on the global economy, that he calls ‘the Great Covid Recession’.

Academics in the ESG field, Dr Ryohei Yanagi and Dr Kim Schumacher, will lead the ESG debate at Japan’s corporate and macroeconomic levels, together with Nicholas Smith, CLSA’s Japan Strategist.

Dr Ryohei Yanagi, CFO of pharmaceutical R&D firm Eisai and visiting professor at Waseda and Toyo Universities, and a drafting members of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s Ito Review, will examine what ails Japan Inc, how it can be fixed faster and where the bottlenecks are. Dr Kim Schumacher, lecturer in Sustainable Finance and ESG at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and a consultant on ESG for the Luxembourg Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, will highlight the latest ESG data and impact metrics in Japan.

As social media and online shopping activity soar, Kim Leitzes, co-founder of influencer marketing platform ParkLU, will explain how brands can search and filter thousands of data-rich key opinion leaders and engage them in collaborative projects. CLSA’s Japan Country Head Oliver Matthew will analyse megatrends and the impact of Covid on Asia consumption.

Artificial intelligence is revolutionising the world, from autonomous driving to manufacturing, and Dr Henrik Christensen, academic in robotics and artificial intelligence, and entrepreneur, will offer his views into the latest developments at the coalface of AI in robotics.

CLSA Head of Research Shaun Cochran will discuss global themes and surprises. A firm believer that the world is mispricing the Covid-19 economic risk versus the health risk, he will pick the markets and asset classes with better risk-adjusted returns, and explain how to hedge against currency risk effectively. Head of quantitative research, Jon Barden, has constructed mathematical models to forecast how severe the Covid impact is likely to be globally, in Asia, and in Japan, and translate this information into GDP, corporate earnings and revenue forecasts by country and sector. He will demonstrate that this global crisis provides an opportunity to integrate quant, macro and fundamental views into a cohesive whole.

Chinese companies account for more than one-third of global demand for industrial robots. CLSA Japan’s automation analyst Morten Paulsen will host a live session with Dr Hugh Cao, executive president of the Fosun Automation and Robotics Group and former Chinese robotics and automation policy advisor, to unveil what is going on in the world’s largest market for industrial automation.

Kai Kaufmann, CLSA’s Head of Corporate Access & Client Strategy, commented: “The 16th CITIC CLSA Japan Forum is the first ever virtual investor conference originated in Japan. We have developed a state-of-the-art corporate access platform for international investors to connect with some of Japan’s leading public and private corporations at the click of a button, at a time when international travel is significantly restricted. Thanks to our new easy-access platform and the lessons learnt in the planning process, we are now best placed to provide seamless digital corporate access across all Asian markets through our Forums and smaller-scale events.”

The 16th CITIC CLSA Japan Forum will be held digitally from 18 to 22 May 2020.

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About CLSA Limited

CLSA is Asia’s leading capital markets and investment group, providing global investors with insights, liquidity and capital to drive their investment strategies.

Award-winning research, an extensive Asia footprint, direct links to China and highly experienced finance professionals differentiate our innovative products and services in asset management, corporate finance, capital and debt markets, securities and wealth management.

As the international platform of CITIC Securities (SSE: 600030, SEHK: 6030), China’s leading investment bank, CLSA is uniquely positioned to facilitate cross-border capital flows and connect China with the world and the world to China.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Hong Kong, CLSA’s global network spans 20 locations across Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States.

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