BOSTON, MA, USA - MARCH 2, 2005 - Page 42
By Brett Arends

Hub consultancy EastBridge Partners has been hired by the Chinese government to drum up attention from U.S. investment bankers and venture capitalists.

EastBridge was signed up by SIPAC, the government-owned development corporation in the city of Suzhou.

EastBridge boss Jack Daniels plans to take SIPAC brass around the big North American money centers over the next few weeks to make the pitch for Suzhou, which is near Shanghai and is one of China’s emerging business centers.

China already has plenty of factories. Now, Daniels says, it wants to move up the value chain. “They have been successful in attracting foreign investment to Suzhou, but they recognize their economy is becoming manufacturing top-heavy,” he said yesterday. “Ther’s not much effort going into (research and development) or new product development.”

Suzhou wants to turn itself into an investment and venture capital hub along the lines of Route 128 and Silicon Valley. “This is just at the exploratory phase,” Daniels said.

He noted opportunitites such as these are largely limited to the middle market – “investments between $15 million and $400 million. If it’s larger than that, it’s likely to be a state-owned enterprise.”

Daniels set up EastBridge, a consultancy specializing in the Asia-Pacific region, a year ago. It has offices in China and Hong Kong as well as headquarters in Boston.

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