Carson Wen

Legal career

Wen was born in 1953 and was educated at the Diocesan Boys' School. He went to Singapore, studying at the National Junior College and medicine at the National University of Singapore with the scholarship from the Singaporean government. He later moved to the United States and graduated from the Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He also obtained a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Law from the Oxford University and was a Younger Prizeman in law at Balliol College. He qualified as a solicitor in Hong Kong in 1980.

He has been working in business, corporate and securities law for more than 30 years, including a reverse takeover listing of Guangdong Investment Limited, the first PRC-controlled listed company in Hong Kong, the first listing of a company on the Foreign Board of the Singapore Stock Exchange (which later obtained a dual listing on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong), and one of the first listings of a PRC private enterprise in Hong Kong..

He was a partner and head of Corporate Department at the Hong Kong law firm Siao, Wen and Leung and then a partner of Heller Ehrman LLP in 2003 as Chair of China Practice Group. From April 2006 to December 2016, he has been a partner of Jones Day LLP, a leading global law firm. He has represented foreign and Hong Kong companies in their direct investment in China, whether forming joint ventures or wholly foreign owned enterprises, or acquiring interests in existing PRC enterprises. .

Wen has also advised clients in issues relating to land, intellectual property, security interest, employment, taxation, manufacturing contracts and various other aspects of their investment in China. He has also acted for foreign investors and lenders in large scale real estate developments in China. Wen has also handled transactions on behalf of the PRC government or enterprises under its direct control in transactions such as the purchases of power generators from Italian and Finnish suppliers, and the forming of an aerospace joint venture with Israel Aircraft Industries. He is named in Who's Who of the Law, Asia Pacific Legal 500, Asia Law Leading Lawyers, Chambers Asia and China's Top 200. He is also named in the International Who's Who and Who's Who of the World..

Business career

In business, Wen has invested in or operated businesses in the media, catering, building materials, business consultancy and manufacturing sectors prior to his founding of the Sancus Group in 2007. He is also an independent director of the Phoenix News Media and non-executive director of the Winox Holdings Limited..

He is currently chairman of the Green Business Task Force of the Business Advisory Council of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). He has also been a Member of Advisory Board at International Mining & Infrastructure Corporation PLC since December 2011..

Wan is a former guest professor of the Law School of the Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, China, a founding and Executive Committee member of the China Mergers & Acquisitions Association and sits on the board of numerous organisations, including the China Africa Business Council (Hong Kong), the Pacific Basin Economic Council and the Hong Kong Professional Consultants Association.

Politics

He was a three-term deputy to the National People's Congress, PRC's national legislature, and vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), the largest pro-Beijing party in Hong Kong.

He was made Justice of the Peace in 2002 and was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star in 2007 by the Hong Kong government for his contribution to economic ties between Hong Kong, mainland China and the rest of the world.