Day One - Wednesday 15th October 2008

08.30 Registration and morning refreshments

09.25 Chairman's opening remarks

Keith Mullin, Editor-in-Chief, IFR

09.35 Outlook for 2009

• Where does the market stand? How has Asia been affected by the credit crunch?
• Are there are signs that the Western buyout market may be reopening - and if so, what does this mean for Asia?
• Examining drivers and trends in leveraged loans and high yield bonds
• Gauging liquidity levels
• When will long positions be cleared in Europe and the US; considering the impact this may have on Asian underwriting ability
• Can private equity replace bank capital?
• How strong is the LBO deal pipeline? Is there a deal pipeline?
• Assessing viable investment avenues in the face of reduced LBO opportunities

Christophe Cerisier, Head of Leveraged and Sponsor Finance, Asia Pacific, GE Commercial Finance

10.15 Drivers of leveraged finance in Asia

• In a relatively quiet market, where is acquisition and leveraged finance activity coming from?
• Assessing Asia-inbound and -outbound flows
• Financing costs
• Outlook for 2009; what are corporates likely to be doing in the next 12 months, and what does this mean for the acquisition and leveraged finance industry?

Rajiv Nayar, Managing Director, Syndicate & Acquisition Finance Group, Capital Markets Origination, Citi

10.45 Generating value from distressed and stressed companies

• Outlining the current state of play
• Country analysis with focus on China and India
• Examining the products and structures suitable for distressed/stressed companies
• Five of the best opportunities in the market today
• Outlining pitfalls, risks and rewards

Paul Jurie, Global Head, Alternative Investments, Standard Chartered Bank

11:15 Opportunities in restructured and distressed debt

• Is there value to be found? If so, how and where?
• How much is being invested in distressed assets?
• Non-traditional financing opportunities in stressed/distressed situations in Asia
• Evaluating returns vs. potential risks
• Identifying and executing intervention, value accretion and exit strategies
• Driving value enhancement through operational intervention in distressed situations
• Is distressed debt cheap, or is there still some way to go?
• Which sectors are the most attractive?

David Maund, Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal Asia Limited
Michel Lowy, Head of Asia-Pacific Strategic Investment Group, Deutsche Bank

11.45 Morning refreshments

12.00 Opportunities in mid-market and smaller deals

• Considering the outlook for smaller and mid-sized LBOs: do these offer value in the absence of jumbo deals?
• Assessing risk, speed, structure, and make-up of financing
• Deal flow and appetite

Wilson Wan, Managing Director, Head of Leveraged and Structured Finance Division, Bank of China International

12.30 Financing for optimum returns: Looking at the development of high yield sectors Gaming/Entertainment and Lodging/Real Estate

• Who is investing?
• How attractive are the returns?
• Assessing risk
• Borrower perspectives
• Is the slowdown in the Asian property IPO market creating opportunities for private equity and hedge funds?
• Current market trends and near/medium-term outlook

Ken Chan, Chief Financial Officer, Amax Entertainment
Robert Drake, Chief Financial Officer, Galaxy Entertainment Group
Kern Lim, Vice President of Finance, The Venetian Macau-Resort-Hotel

13.00 Lunch

14.30 PANEL Where are investors putting their money?

• Exploring alternatives to LBOs
• Strategies to achieve optimum returns and locate best value
• To what extent are investors reviewing their performance metrics? How have expectations of return levels changed?
• New priorities and evolving deal structures
• Assessing the impact of financing costs
• Are private equity players investing in growth capital rather than buyouts?
• Are they following the path of hedge funds taking minority stakes?
• Competition for a slice of value

Jack Hennessy, Managing Director, Baring Private Equity Asia
Emmett Thomas, Partner, Head of Asia, Advantage Partners, (Hong Kong)
Geoff Lee, Managing Director, Myo Capital Advisers Limited

15.00 Institutional investor's perspective

• Market overview and outlook
• Relative value analysis
• Exploring structuring issues
• Case studies

Eric Mason, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group

15.30 Afternoon refreshments

15.45 Facilitating deals in a risk-averse environment

• Examining alternative sources of capital
• How are deals being structured?
• Outlook for the credit market in 2009

Tim Donahue, Head of GSO Capital Partners, Asia Pacific, The Blackstone Group
Sanjeev Khemlani, Managing Director, GSO Capital Partners

16.15 Ingredients for a successful Asian LBO: Panel Session

• Syndication and pricing strategy
• Structuring
• Are we really seeing the rise of the Asian bank?
• Assessing levels of leverage
• What are the ingredients to avoid?

Brett W. King, Partner, Corporate Department, Paul Hastings
Graham Conran, Executive Director, Leveraged Finance Asia Pacific, JPMorgan Securities
Julian Ostheim, Head of Acquisition and Leveraged Finance Asia, Calyon

17.15 Outlook for the leveraged loans market

• Analysing the impact of the credit crunch
• Current deal flow, tenors, pricing levels and structures, plus outlook for 2009
• Examining the current operating environment, and levels of flexing and restructuring
• Exploring drivers of growth - and in which sectors and markets?
• Assessing activity in the secondary market
• Is syndication taking place globally or only Asia-wide? Who is getting involved?

Nelson Lo, Executive Director, Head of Loan Syndication, Asia ex-Japan, Goldman Sachs

17.45 Chairman's closing remarks and end of Day One

Day Two - Thursday 16th October 2008

08.30 Registration and morning refreshments

09.00 Chairman's opening remarks

Keith Mullin, Editor-in-Chief, IFR

09.05 Leveraged finance review: Japan

• Examining opportunities and challenges
• Lessons to be learnt from recent deals
• Is Japan the holy grail of Asian leveraged finance?

Yasuyuki Miyoshi, Representative Director and Partner, Longreach Group Inc.
Katsuhiko Ando, Head of Acquisition & Leveraged Finance Japan, BNP Paribas

09.35 Leveraged finance review: China

• Assessing dealflow
• Challenges and opportunities
• Overcoming legal obstacles

Eric Greenberg, Executive Director - Financing Group, Goldman Sachs Asia

10.05 Leveraged finance review: Singapore

• Assessing levels and scale of transactions
• The Singaporean market has been relatively active - why?
• Drivers and trends

Bryan Liew, Executive Director, Global Leveraged Finance Asia, UBS
John Corrin, Managing Director, Head of Capital Markets, GE Capital; and Chairman, Asia Pacific Loan Market Association
Boey Yin Chong, Managing Director, Syndicated Finance, Corporate and Investment Banking, DBS Bank 

10.35 Leveraged finance review: India

• Assessing dealflow
• Challenges and opportunities
• Overcoming legal obstacles

Philip Badge, Partner, Co-Head, Asia Banking & Projects, Linklaters
Kalpesh Kikani, Global Head - Investment Banking, ICICI Bank

11.10 Leveraged finance review: Australia

• Will Australia continue to lead the Asia Pacific leveraged finance market?
• Is the market open for business?
• Deal size and flow
• Debt ceiling on LBOs?
• Syndication strategy or is everything a club?
• Exploring changes in pricing margins
• Current players in the mezzanine debt space

Lyndon Hsu, Head of Leveraged Finance Australia, Credit Suisse
Marla Heller, Head of Leveraged Finance, Australia & New Zealand, Deutsche Bank
Greg Clark, Head of Leveraged & Acquisition Finance, Westpac Institutional Bank

11.55 Closing wrap

• Analysing failed and pulled deals over the past 12 months
• Where does value lie? What are the risks?
• Country focus
• What is the impact of SWFs?
• When is the market likely to fulfil its potential, and when are deals likely to get going?
• Expectations for 2009; what will we be talking about at Leveraged Finance Asia 2009?

Clarence T'ao, Regional Head of Structured Finance, Asia Pacific, BNP Paribas
Michael Tierney, Managing Director, Head of Leveraged Finance, Asia Pacific, Credit Suisse
Frank Fazio, Managing Director, Leveraged Finance, Asia, Deutsche Bank
Ajay Sawhney, Managing Director and Head of Asia Leveraged Finance Origination, Merrill Lynch

12.35 Chairman's closing remarks and end of conference, followed by lunch