The first US financial services company to be co-owned by a Chinese firm was hailed yesterday as an example of how the two nations can cooperate in a global economy.
At a news briefing, investors announced the creation of HuaMei Capital Company Co, with the primary aim of assisting cross-border mergers and acquisitions.
"It's a global economy, and we're not going to change that here in Chicago," said Mayor Richard Daley at the news conference.
The venture underscores China's efforts to switch to a free market system from a more centralized government-run economy. China faces significant challenges in making the shift, but has made considerable progress, said Leo Melamed, HuaMei's vice chairman and chairman emeritus of CME Group Inc, the world's largest derivatives exchange.
"It's an amazing miracle," Melamed said.
Melamed played down the perception that China and the US are competitors.
"The Chinese people are our friends and they want to do business," he said.
Former US Senator Adlai Stevenson, a co-chairman of HuaMei, said the firm will act as an intermediary and adviser to bridge cultures and complete deals.
Stevenson and Melamed lead a group of investors holding a 30 percent stake in HuaMei, which means "China America" in Mandarin. Its main offices will be located in Chicago and Beijing.
China Merchants Securities Holdings Co holds 50 percent ownership in the joint venture, while US-based MVC Capital Inc purchased a 20 percent stake in HuaMei.
"There are rapidly increasing demands for investment, merger and acquisition among enterprises in China and the US with the constant growth of China's economy and constant enhancement of China's competitiveness," said Gong Shaolin (
HuaMei will also offer advice on private equity investments and help set up risk management and proprietary trading for its clients, including participation in derivatives.
Melamed acknowledged that CME Group stands to gain a share of China's derivatives business because of the exchange's diverse product line. Melamed said the Chinese partners are interested in proprietary trading and "very cognizant" of his connection to CME.
CME Group was formed in July after the merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade.
Melamed has made frequent visits to China as part of CME's efforts to expand ties to the world's most populated nation.
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
Artificial intelligence (AI) agents would supplant smartphones as the center of people’s digital lives, fundamentally reshaping personal devices and driving a major computing upgrade cycle, Qualcomm Inc CEO Cristiano Amon said yesterday. In his keynote speech for this year’s Computex trade show in Taipei, Amon said that the rise of "agentic AI" — AI systems capable of reasoning, planning and carrying out tasks autonomously — would transform how people interact with technology across phones, PCs, vehicles and wearable devices. Describing the technology as the next major evolution in computing, Amon said that "2026 is the year of agents.” For decades, smartphones have sat
RSS