Johnny Hon loves a show and heloves a stage. Unlike most globe-trotting international investors,he also finds time to invest inthem.

Hon, the founder and chairman ofventure capital business and angel in-vestor the Global Group, is a showbiz impresario, acting as an executive en-tertainment producer as an enjoyablesideline.

UK-educated Hon is speaking to CityAM down the line from his native HongKong ahead of the UK Investor Show(UKIS) 2019, of which his firm is headline sponsor. Another show, and another stage – albeit of a differentvariety.

“When I work as an executive pro-ducer for either stage or screen I’m in-dulging my passion and, at the sametime, ensuring that my business suc-ceeds,” he says.

Twenty years ago Hon’s focus washelping Western businesses to pene-trate the Chinese market. Nowadays heis equally busy helping Chinese compa-nies looking to expand. When he’s notindulging his love for theatrical pro-ductions, that is.

“China’s cinema box office has re-cently overtaken the US to become theworld’s largest,” Hon says, reflecting onChina’s famously burgeoning middle-class. “These trends are only likely togrow and this will be a bigger part ofmy work in China.”

His showbiz work is fun, but gettingtougher business-wise. “This is an in-creasingly discerning market, in bothEast and West. Two years ago it was alldriven by celebrities but now story-telling is important. Just because youhave a big star, doesn’t mean that youwill have big box office success. Onlythe best will make it and turn a goodprofit,” he explains.

When he takes to the stage at the UKInvestor Show, Hon’s focus will be more‘biz’ than showbiz. Specificallyhe will be seeking to chal-lenge views that China’seconomic slowdown is aprecursor to signifi-cant problems fur-ther down the track.

The country’s eco-nomic growth istipped to slow to 6.3per cent this year - itsweakest rate in 29years - according to amedian forecast of 85economists polled byReuters in January. “This isstill growth – and it’s growthof 6.3 per cent of a much biggerpie,” points out Hon.

He also cites a PwC report, releasedlast month, which reported that moreCEOs in China are optimistic aboutglobal growth over the next 12 monthsthan their global counterparts. Alto-gether, 73% of CEOs in mainland Chinabelieve that global economic growthwill improve, compared to 41% of CEOsin Hong Kong and 42% globally.

the UK as a base as investors alreadyknow how things work here,” he con-tinues. “This is partly because it’s mucheasier to recruit Chinese employees inthe UK than elsewhere in Europe. An-other factor is that the UK has the sec-ond-largest population of Chinesestudents outside China and this hasshown no signs of decline despite theBrexit uncertainty.”

Chinese companies, however, havehad mixed success in respect of raisingfunds in London. “A lot of the Chinesecompanies that have come to the UKfor listing have not been the best qual-ity,” acknowledges Hon. “In Hong Kongthere’s a very liquid stock-market, andin [mainland] China all stock-marketsare very liquid. If the [Chinese] com-pany is that good, they can raise moneylocally, so why would they have to go tothe UK? If it’s a company looking to

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

The UK In-vestor Show willtake place theday after the UKis scheduled toleave the EU.

“Britain will needto recalibrate its

place in the world,particularly in its

stance towards interna-tional trade,” says Hon. “The

UK, my second home, has alreadyforged many strong commercial linksbetween itself and China over the yearsand I believe that these will only inten-sify.”

He says that the relatively weakerpound is also something that Chineseinvestors are alert to.

“When Asian investors are looking toinvest in Europe they will still consider

biotech - but his personal passion shinesbright.

“Because we are more Westernised as aproduction company and as an investorwe know how to pick the right projects,”he says of his showbiz credentials.

And coming up? “We have two HongKong-based Chinese movies that willlaunch in the next six months. We arealso looking at investing in some movieprojects in Turkey. And in the UK we arelooking for musical and live entertain-ment all the time.”

As well as aiming to hit the right noteswith the audience later this month, naturally.

To claim your free Investor Class ticket for TheGlobal Group UK Investor Show 2019 onSaturday 30 March, visitwww.ukinvestorshow.com/tickets and enterCITYHON as the discount code

raise money in the UK with no otherlinks to the UK, those are the compa-nies that one should avoid.”

Hon moved back to Hong Kong eightyears ago from London but returns herefor about five days each month. “WhenI was living in the UK, the way you usedto [stay informed] was to read Investors’Chronicle,” he says. “But at the UK In-vestor Show it’s very interesting to meetCEOs of young, listed companies, andsometimes by doing the networkingyou know more about the company,and you can help them tap into othermarkets.”

This, in a nutshell, is Hon’s speciality.He is a global soul and, beyond Sino-UKrelations, plans to reflect on how hisglobal travels inform his investmentstrategy. He will also discuss other in-vestment fields beyond entertainment– for example, new media, fintech and

CITYAM.COM16 TUESDAY 12 MARCH 2019NEWS

UK-China investment specialist Johnny Honlikes to ‘indulge his passions’, he tells Ian Hall

ALL THE WORLD’SA SOUND-STAGE

Johnny Hon faces the cameras at The Global Group UK Investor Show 2018; he returns to Westminster’s Queen Elizabeth II Centre (inset) for this year’s conference on 30 March