After recording record revenues and profits in 2004, Business Development Asia LLC ("BDA"), the international advisory firm, has announced several key promotions among its Asia-based staff.

BDA is pleased to announce the following promotions:
Paul DiGiacomo - to Director, based in Hong Kong
Jeffrey Wang - to Director, based in Shanghai
Sung Hyuk Lee - to Assistant Director, based in Seoul
Barnaby Joll - to Senior Associate, based in Shanghai
Lydia Xu - to Senior Associate, based in Shanghai
Sunny Li - to Associate, based in Shanghai
Christine Ma - to Associate, based in Shanghai

Please see below for full bios of these executives.

Euan Rellie, Managing Director and co-founder of BDA, said: "we now have top-tier advisory teams in place on the ground in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo, led by the appropriate management structure. Our growing blue-chip client base has benefited from the high quality advisory service we have offered since 1996. We are well placed to continue to build our business aggressively, given the high level of interest in Asia among multinational companies and financial investors".

About BDA: Business Development Asia LLC assists multinational corporate clients to identify and execute acquisitions, divestments, JVs and restructurings in Asia. Founded in 1996, the company is headquartered in New York with offices in Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong as well as London. BDA has a blue chip client list including Air Products, Cadbury Schweppes, Great Lakes, Hercules, Kimberly Clark, Lear, Lubrizol, Mars, Nalco, Parker Hannifin, Reuters, Sumitomo Chemical, Tredegar, WR Grace, and the British Government. Further information on Business Development Asia is available on our website, www.bdallc.com.

Paul DiGiacomo is a Director based in Hong Kong working to identify and structure investments in Asia for BDA’s clients. He joined BDA in 1997 and was previously based in our New York and Singapore offices, managing the research teams, with a focus on the healthcare and technology sectors. In Asia, Mr. DiGiacomo heads BDA’s Hong Kong office and has identified and executed transactions for several of BDA’s multinational clients in the Hong Kong, Greater China and Asia Pacific regions. Mr. DiGiacomo was educated at Trinity College (BA Hons, Political Science).

Jeffrey Wang is a Director based in Shanghai. From 1995 to 2001, Mr. Wang worked as an Associate in the Investment Banking Division of Salomon Smith Barney, and its predecessor, Schroders PLC, based in Shanghai and Hong Kong. There, he advised multinational companies on a number of acquisitions, JVs and other direct investments in China. The clients he worked for included BTR (Invensys), Associated British Foods, Bass, Danone, Welbilt and Perot. He also worked on IPOs and private placements for local companies. From 1988 to 1995, he worked as correspondent banking officer in the International Division of the Bank of Communications, one of the largest commercial banks in China. Mr. Wang speaks fluent Mandarin and English and was educated at Beijing University (BA, Economics).

Sung Hyuk Lee is an Assistant Director based in Seoul. Prior to joining BDA, Mr. Lee was an associate at Lehman Brothers' investment banking division where he worked on a number of M&A advisory deals with clients such as Woori Financial, SK Corp, Softbank, and WL Ross & Co. He was also an Equity Research analyst and financial analyst at Daewoo Securities and a financial analyst at Morgan Stanley in Korea. Mr. Lee received an MBA from University of California at Berkeley and a BA in Political Science from Yonsei University.

Barnaby Joll is a Senior Associate based in Shanghai. Prior to joining BDA, Mr. Joll worked as an analyst with HSBC, based, for a period, in Taipei, covering small cap Taiwanese companies for HSBC Securities Taiwan. He also worked in HSBC’s New York Investment Advisory Group as a US equities analyst focusing on semiconductor, telecoms and technology companies, and as a fixed-income analyst for HSBC Asset Management in London. Prior to HSBC, Mr. Joll worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in London. Mr. Joll was educated at The University of Edinburgh (MA Hons, Chinese) and is fluent in Mandarin.

Lydia Xu is a Senior Associate based in Shanghai. Prior to joining BDA, Ms. Xu worked as an Associate in the Core Vision Team of Asia Pulp & Paper (China). She was responsible for conducting business analysis and evaluating market opportunities for the company. Ms. Xu also has four years of experience in investment banking with Hainan Securities Co., Ltd. where she focused on company and industry research and assisted companies to get listed in China. A Chinese citizen fluent in Mandarin and English, Ms. Xu graduated from Beijing University (BA, Mathematics) and the China Europe International Business School (MBA).

Sunny Li is an Associate based in Shanghai. Prior to joining BDA, Miss Li worked in the Assurance and Advisory Business Services Department of Ernst & Young in Shanghai, focusing on M&A valuation, due diligence, and internal control analysis of the business models for multinationals in China. Miss Li also performed audit projects for domestically listed companies and the PRC subsidiaries of global Fortune 100 companies. Miss Li is a Chinese citizen and fluent in Mandarin and English. She graduated from Fudan University with a MA in Economics and Beijing Technology and Business University with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in International Business.

Christine Ma is an Associate based in Shanghai. Prior to joining BDA, Ms. Ma worked for two years in the Shanghai office of E J McKay, an investment bank specializing in cross-border M&A, which advised Western and Asian clients entering the Chinese market, identifying targets and devising appropriate transaction structures in the automotive, chemicals and technology sectors. Before that, she worked on the audit / financial advisory team for KPMG in Shanghai for two years, focusing on financial analysis, strategy, business risk and other evaluations for Fortune 500 companies. She worked on the NYSE and HKSE IPO teams for China Mobile and China Telecom. She graduated from Fudan University with a BA in Liberal Arts. Ms. Ma is a Chinese citizen and fluent in Mandarin, Shanghai dialect, and English and speaks some German.

For more information, contact:

Euan Rellie, Managing Director, New York, +1-212-265-5300, erellie@bdallc.com
Andrew Huntley, Managing Director, New York, +1-212-265-5300, ahuntley@bdallc.com
Charles Maynard, Managing Director, Tokyo, +81-3-3433-5803, cmaynard@bdallc.com